


Lamb For Slaughter

by SupernaturallyConfused11



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Prison, Angry Castiel (Supernatural), Castiel Has a Religious Family, Dean/Cas Big Bang Challenge, Dean/Cas Big Bang Challenge 2017, Divorce, Emotionally Hurt Sam, F/M, Hurt Castiel, Hurt Dean Winchester, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Incest, Lawyer Gabriel (Supernatural), Lawyer Sam Winchester, M/M, Married Sam Winchester, Murder Mystery, Past Castiel/Original Male Character(s), Past Relationship(s), Photographer Castiel, Police Officer Lucifer (Supernatural), Prison Sex, Prisoner Castiel, Protective Dean Winchester, Racism, Religious Conflict, Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 12:16:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 82,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12507204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SupernaturallyConfused11/pseuds/SupernaturallyConfused11
Summary: Castiel Novak appraised fashion photographer is in prison for the murder of 4 men. Dean Winchester is the new officer in charge given a hell hole of a prison to clean up.Leona Hornstaff is an investigator hired by Castiel’s brother Gabriel to investigate his case; this also means that she has to come face to face with the one man she has been trying to avoid since their divorce, District Attorney and ex-husband Sam Winchester. All four of them are caught in a net of politics where truth is often crushed for power.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, this is my second DCBB fic and I could not have done it without my partner in crime Aggiedoll. She also happens to be my BETA and also the amazingly talented artist for this fic check out her fanart for the fic below:

**Link to fanart part[one](http://romachebella.tumblr.com/post/166821483037/art-for-fic-lamb-for-slaughter-part-1) and part [two](http://romachebella.tumblr.com/post/166821791132/art-for-fic-lamb-for-slaughter-part-2)**

 

 

 _"_ _The court finds you guilty of murder....." the judge, jury and people around turn to look at him pointing their fingers in his direction with their eyes turning white_

"NOVAK!!! Wake up!!"  
Castiel woke from the same dream which he had been having for the last 3 months. He rubbed his eyes and saw Officer Benny Lafayette standing in front of his cell door.

"Wake up, princess. You've a visitor." Castiel looked at him quizzically.  He got up and when Benny slid his door open, he walked out.  _Prison...how did I end up here? Not even in my worst dreams had I thought I would be here. The model son, model brother, model employee... and now I am in prison. My life has changed radically three months ago, but I still have no idea how,_ Castiel thought to himself  _._  He was walking along the grey corridor where there were hands hanging outside barred doors. The smell of disinfectant was everywhere.   _Ha! Maybe someone higher up might be coming along._  
On his way he stops in his tracks as Benny, who's in front of him, halts abruptly. As  he crashes into Benny he looks up to see that he's saluting someone. 

"Good morning, Lafayette" a husky voice says. It sends a shiver down Castiel’s spine. Soon he sees short cropped hair,  a pair of green eyes and full lips.  _Oh God! What's this guy doing in prison? He should be somewhere modeling._ He should know that since he's been a photographer for En Vogue. "Is this Cas...?”  
"Castiel Novak, Sir," Benny chimes in.   _Oh yeah, I’m really famous here_.  But Castiel used to be famous for all the right reasons. If he was outside, he would have picked this guy up so fast that he wouldn't  have realized what hit him.

"Novak!! Whatcha’ looking at?" Benny snaps at him as he catches Castiel looking at his superior´s receding figure. He looks down and starts moving along. Finally he is ushered into the meeting room with glass panels and a steel cage. Everything here either had cages or bars, and guards.

"Castiel!!" Gabriel rose from his feet. “Oh God, don't worry, little bro, I'm gonna get you out of here. Hey mutton chops, open the gate, will ya?"  
Benny snarled angrily but complied with the request. Castiel smiled at this. Gabriel had a knack for bending rules. He came inside and hugged him tightly.

“I’m so sorry Cassie; if I'd been here, this would not have happened", his hands were still on Castiel’s face.

His eyes welled up and Castiel caught his hands "Gabriel, how have you been? How was the trip?"   
"Cassie, have you started hating me for not being there? I'm so sorry." Gabriel said looking deeply into his eyes.  
"Gabriel, it's ok, you couldn't have done much. The case was rock solid. In fact I'm glad you weren't there, otherwise you'd be blaming yourself for not being able to get me out." Castiel said consoling him.  
"Cas, how are you? Do they treat you ok? Let me know if you're in any kind of trouble", he said, glaring at Benny.   
"I'm fine; in fact people are afraid of me cause you know, all the murders and all." he said, laughing drily.  
"Cassie, will you stop saying that. Stop this pacifist shit ok! I know you'd never do this. They're just demonizing you for who you are. You have not confessed to your crime." Gabriel said, raising his voice.  
Castiel smiled genuinely for the first time in three months. Gabriel was always a ray of sunshine, but the evidence was so solid and the investigating officer had been his own brother Lucian.

"They found my prints and also the clothes with the blood on them -  not to forget, I knew those men." Castiel explained.  
"Cassie, you're being made a scapegoat for sloppy police work, and let's not forget the bigoted attitude that prevails here." Gabriel said, refusing to concede defeat.  
"Don't say that, Luci was the lead detective on it" Castiel tried to defend his elder brother.  
"And that's supposed to make me feel ok about it? Cassie, he threw you and me out for who you were. He's completely under father's presumed 'views' that uncle Zack told him" Gabriel calmed himself down.

"How was Kali's surgery?" Castiel took this opportunity to change the subject to ask about Gabriel’s longtime girlfriend Kali. 

"She's fine, there were a few complications so they had to keep her in hospital for a month and I couldn't move. You should have called me at least" Gabriel said as a he closed his eyes with dismay.  
Castiel saw the slight pain at the mention of Kali's name. She had been suffering from cancer and Gabriel had to leave the country in order to seek better treatment. He could see that the whole experience had been harrowing on his brother.

"She’s back with me here, but still a little fragile" Gabriel said looking down at his feet. Castiel smiled at him and placed his handcuffed hands on both sides of Gabriel.

"This is so wrong, I'm the one who’s supposed to smile at you reassuringly. Not the other way round. I'm gonna get you outta here.... And don't say that you've done this" he warned Castiel.

Benny cleared his throat indicating to them that their time was up. Castiel’s eyes welled up to see his brother go and he hugged Gabriel tightly one last time.

"I'll see you soon, little brother” Gabriel promised Castiel. Castiel saw his brother’s figure recede into the distance beyond the iron door.

"Let's go, Novak" Benny said. As they were walking back to his cell, Benny told him to clean up his cell and keep it ready for inspection. Castiel merely nodded, it seemed like there was a new warden and he would come down for inspection. They walked to the end of the long corridor and as he walked past the fellow prisoners, he saw there were an unnatural number of blacks and Hispanics and Native Americans among his fellow prisoners. Gabriel's words suddenly somewhere rang true. Was the prison system used to lock away people that were least desired by the society?   
"Hey Castiel, my man!  Heard you'd a visitor?" Uriel asked.

He was pretty much the only friend he had. It seemed among the least desired of society Castiel was pretty much not wanted as well.

"Yes, I did", Castiel replied as Benny pushed him inside and locked him up. 

"He's in a bad mood" Uriel said.

"When is he not?" Castiel said drily.

"Seems like there's a new chief.”

"Yeah, seems like it" Castiel said as he started cleaning up.

"Castiel, come here" Uriel said with his voice lowered. Castiel went closer to the bars of his cell. "You need to be careful, man; I heard the Soldiers were asking about you."

"Me... Why?"   
"Cos they wanna be your best friends... You idiot, I don't know. All I know is that it cannot be good."

The Soldiers of God  were a group of religious zealots who thought they were doing God's work and eliminated anything or anyone that they felt was against 'God's will'. 

"Thanks for the heads up" Castiel said and went back to cleaning his cell. 

Life had not always been so dark and grim for Castiel Novak. The youngest son of a preacher, he was shy but a bright young fellow. Things started to change when one day while coming home from school at the age of six he learned his father had passed away. That broke Castiel’s heart, his father and him were very close. Now it was just him and his brothers. All three of them were then transferred into care of their uncle Zachariah and his daughter Anna. His uncle was a strongly religious man. He did not allow many things like art, music and dance. But this never stopped the brothers and their little cousin Sister Anna from having any fun. Mostly it was Gabriel or their eldest brother Lucian who bore the brunt of his anger.

Soon Castiel had to leave his uncle’s house with his brother Gabriel, as it became very clear that Uncle Zack would never approve of who he was. Lucian and Anna stayed home to become a cop and a nurse. Castiel meanwhile grew in every way possible at college. Photography, which was merely something he did to keep his father’s memory alive as a child, became a passion in his teenage years and a full time profession after college. There was another passion that Castiel pursued after coming to college, his interest in men. Castiel first realized liking boys in high school but did nothing, fearing persecution from the hands of his family and society.

He met his boyfriend Michael when he agreed to model for Castiel’s college project. Gabriel had helped set them up when he noticed how taken Castiel was when he first introduced him to his colleague and best friend Michael . Both came quite close after making and breaking up a couple of times. Castiel realized that Michael was here to stay. Their relationship was very raw thanks to roving eye of Michael was and Castiel was insanely possessive. One day during an exhibition of Castiel’s pictures, Michael and he had a fight after which Michael walked out. Michael had hardly driven a block when he met with an accident and he died a day later in the hospital. Castiel was beyond himself and locked himself up in his studio. Gabriel got worried for him, so when Castiel came out one day and told Gabriel that he had been approached by the En Vogue magazine in their home city for a fashion shoot, and he wanted to go for it, Gabriel had decided to go with this plan despite of hating the idea.

 _'Oh! If only I had protested then'_ Gabriel thought to himself as he drove back to work with tears streaming down his face.


	2. Chapter 2

"Cell inspection!!" Benny yelled.

"Geez man, I get it. No need to shout" Uriel said as he got up from his nap and stood up straight next to his bed. He saw Castiel was already up in his neat and tidy cell. It was amazing to see how such a conformist man was capable of such a heinous series of crimes. Uriel's musing was broken when the prison guards crowded in front of his cell with their new chief in their tow. Before going to Uriel’s cell he moved straight to Castiel’s cell. He was looking down at his shoes. The chief bent down to look at him

"Novak is it?" said that same rough voice that made him shiver.  _Oh_ _great, here comes the speech_ _now_ _...not in my prison...._ he braced himself for a barrage of harsh words.

"Look up, man" chief demanded jovially. He looked up to be met by a pair of curious green eyes. "Your cell is.... Exceptionally neat - Castiel.... Is it?"   
"Answer him, Novak" Benny nudged him.    
"Thank you, sir" Castiel started lo oking down again.  
"Oh good, you can speak." Dean said smirking at Cas tiel and he walked out. He checked out Uriel’s cell and began to walk out of  the area when he turned around to see that Cas was now sitting there looking into empty space in the wall of his cell .    
"Not the chatty type, is he?"   Dean remarked.  
"Well sir, the quiet ones are the most lethal" Benny mused.  
"So you think he did it?" Dean asked looking at Benny curiously.  
"The court says so... Also his kinds are... Unpredictable"    
" His kinds....?” Dean stopped now and looked at Benny waiting for an answer.  
"Fag... Uh ... Homosexuals." Benny quickly checked himself.  
"Oh is it?" Dean said twisting his lips.  
"Yes and seems the earlier chief despised him… Him and a couple of others were beaten mercilessly just three weeks ago. Told me he was doing God's work. Straightening people like him out" Benny said looking down at his feet.  
"Hmmmm that explains a lot" Dean said.

"Well the chief is gone but his thoughts remain." Benny continued.

Dean looked up with an arched eyebrow. Benny moved closer behind him and said “the chief was responsible for the formation of a prison gang in here...the Soldiers Of God"  
"Oh is it? Do you kno w the members? Or any marks through which they can be identified with?" This was more serious than he had thought of earlier.  
"No idea, sir, but I could find out. You need to be careful, not many of the guards are happy that the chief had to leave so unceremoniously" Benny said referring to the whole indictment of the former chief on account of many violations.  
" Why are you helping me then? You didn't like the old man ? "  
"Well sir, you can say that I believe that only God has the power to judge. And I don’t want to play God here, sir" Benny said showing his cross.

Dean smiled at Benny and touched his arm **.**  "Walk with me.”

They were now walking between perimeters between the guards and the prisoners´ playground. Dean saw that there was barely anything to do. There were benches which were bent out of shape. No gym equipment; what was supposed to be a basketball court was all uneven and there was no net or baskets.

"What’s this?"

"Supposed to be a playground, sir."

"So...what happened? "

"Apparently  Mr. Burton thought that there were more important things to be looked at like electrifying the outer fences buying K-9 unit, building 8 solitary confinement units and finally  building a salvation chamber. Before you ask, it is a kind of room where insubordinate prisoners are taken to be taught conformity."

Dean was very confusedly looking at Benny. "What am I missing here? I mean, the state or the city has no major mob activity. The drug problem is not as bad as, say, Detroit. I mean, for crying out loud, these are still American citizens, not freaking terrorists."

"Well, sir, Mr. Burton thought the prison should serve as a place which makes a person repent for their crime and seek salvation." Benny said looking around at the dustbowl of a playground.

"Well, that explains the low parole rates and high suicide rates here." Dean said looking at the barbed wire fences.

\-------

_It was a bright, sunny morning as the rays of the sun filtered through the closed drapes. Castiel covered his eyes with his hand. It was too late, he was already up but not completely ready to face the new day. He could feel a throbbing headache. Last night was a blur, all he did remember was going to the opening of a new club Z with his colleagues and the models he was working with. They were all drunk on something called purple nurples... models and their selection Castiel had thought._

_"Can't believe a photographer could be so alone in company of his models?" said a voice, dry and heavily English accented from behind him._

_"Mr. Thorne," Castiel said smiling his fake smile._

_"Uh....just Benji tonight" he said smiling at him.  
"So does our little town meet up to your west coast style and panache?" Castiel looked down at his drink and smiled drily._

_"You forget Mr...Benji, I'm a home town boy too." They both laughed at this._

_Castiel was feeling tipsy with at least 7 of those things. Jeez when did he finish all those?  he thought, looking at the empty shot glasses. Benjamin was a men's fashion columnist with En Vogue, and he had been sizing up Castiel since his first day in office. He had small yet sharp eyes, smaller lips and curly hair. He was very different than Michael, very straightforward and often quite persuasive. A kind of guy who refused to take no for an answer and tonight Castiel was not in the mood to say no._

_"Come on now" Castiel’s musings were broken when he saw that Benji was pulling at his hand. They took to the floor and Castiel realized there were no lights on the dance floor except for the occasional laser beams. He realized that people took doing their “business” in the dark very literally. He found himself being led by Benji. The Latin tunes seemed to be vibrating through Castiel. Benji pushed him far and then pulled him close and moved his hand across the side of Castiel’s body. His hand moved  behind Castiel’s back and then he gently moved to place his hands on his ass. He pulled Castiel closer ending the distance between them and nudged his head into the small of his neck. Castiel had closed his eyes now and was moving with the groove. He had stopped caring who he was dancing with or whether this meant anything, if he was bisexual. All these questions did not matter anymore because he knew what this was, just a one night stand. For Castiel he was merely another warm body that he could be with till he was satiated and then keep on moving._

_"Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Benji's lustful voice said. Castiel allowed himself to be led towards the exit, but not before picking the last two shots of purple nurples. When Castiel opened his eyes he was pushed against the wall somewhere that looked like under the bridge. Benji pressed himself on him and Castiel could feel something buzzing **.**   _

_"Shouldn’t you.....” Castiel’s sentence was cut short when he realized Benji had pushed his tongue inside his mouth. The buzzing still continued, Castiel managed to push Benji far enough to let him speak._

_"Answer it or throw it away" Castiel said pushing him away gently._

_Benji smiled at him and answered the phone "Darling I'm busy right now" oh great he has a girlfriend or wife, but who cares Castiel thought to himself. Castiel undid his tie, removed his jacket and swayed his hips and slowly undid his belt. Benji dropped his phone and almost attacked Castiel…._

_And now here he was lying in his bed avoiding Sun’s rays. Castiel slowly opened his eyes and his head hurt. Something felt wet on his stomach; it was high time he cleaned himself up. He woke up to find his shirt soaked in some kind of red liquid. Then he smelled it and found it to be very organic. Oh dear, it was blood._

_He woke up with a jump. Oh no what's this....? Oh God. Cas opened his shirt to see that there was no wound. Whose blood was this? He looked around -there was no one? He looked around...._

\-------

"Castiel, let's go….it’s lunch time" Uriel’s voice broke his reminisces.   
"You seemed lost" he observed.  
"Nothin, just going over my past" Castiel said with sadness and pain in his eyes.

They walked in a single file picking up their plates. "Porridge again, man they think we're animals" Uriel observed drily. They took their plates and parted their ways. Uriel did not sit with Castiel as he was not keen to be treated the same as him.  _Hmph… some things never change,_ Castiel thought. He walked over to his usual place in the corner behind the pillar, away from prying eyes that he knew were on him since he entered the room.  
"Why don't you just drop dead?" a rowdy looking man with frizzy hair and bushy moustache said to Castiel putting a foot on the opposite bench. He was used to these outbursts by inmates. He looked behind the guy, the guards weren't looking in his direction.

"I'll try harder the next time" Castiel replied not looking at the guy.  
"Maybe I could be of assistance”, said Gordon sitting beside Castiel. Gordon Belford was a downright scum of the society. He was a known killer who worked for the Black Kings in the city and apparently the entire east coast.  _He enjoys killing people. Takes pride in his work,_ Uriel had informed Castiel. He liked Castiel but not in a nice way; more in a Bully kind of way. They were confused themselves and did not know how to accept who they were and people like Castiel were always the ones who suffered. Castiel had always had people like Gordon in his life and had basically struggled to deal with them. It was always Luci or Gabe who had fought for him and protected him from people like Gordon. But things had changed; there was no longer anyone he could turn to.  
"Listen, I don't want any trouble" Castiel said moving towards the edge of his bench as Gordon began invading his personal space.  This was Gordon’s favorite game pushing the prey in a corner and then poking them.  
"Pretty boy, if you weren't so damn crazy I would have made you my bitch" he said shining his evil grin. Castiel just swallowed his anger and looked straight at him.

"I always wonder if you're worth killing oneself for" he said fixing his eyes on Castiel. He looked away in another direction. He knew where this conversation was going.

"Maybe I'll have to find out for myself" his hand inched towards Castiel’s thigh.  _No… not anymore….this ends now!!_  Castiel caught the hand midway and twisted it “In your dreams"  
Castiel saw the burly friend get up towards him. Castiel picked up the porridge and threw it in his face with his free hand.

"Aaaahh" he screamed.

Castiel scrunched that hand into a fist and punched Gordon hard across his face. "You little pig" he screamed. The burly guy got up and tried to catch him but Castiel slid down the bench before he could catch him.   
"Get him" Castiel stopped walking away and turned around to face the burly guy. He punched him right on the nose again. Somebody hit him with a tray on his back. He turned around to see that Gordon was standing in a boxing position, ready to hit him. Castiel gave a slanted smile. Gordon got very annoyed with this display and punched Castiel on his nose, showing him stars in broad daylight. He fell to the ground, and rather than getting up he just stretched his leg and pulled Gordon to the floor with his legs. Meanwhile the other prisoners had gathered around.  The fight club had started…..

Castiel got up to his feet and began kicking the fallen form of Gordon. Castiel felt someone hit his back which brought him to his knees. And he saw the two other guards with their batons around him and Gordon. One of the guards standing behind Castiel put his baton around his neck and said "I said.... Break. It. Up”.

The other two had now moved in closer and began beating him and Gordon with their batons. Officer McKinnon, who was holding Castiel by his neck, now raised his hand.

"Solitary, both of you" he said pulling Castiel up by his collar. Castiel was tired of this routine of being sent to solitary due to no fault of his own. He spat on McKinnon's face and this sent the officer better known as ‘Yellow Eyes’ into a fit of rage. He removed his Taser and put it on Castiel’s stomach. Castiel was sent to the ground emitting a deafening scream.

McKinnon put his shoe on Castiel’s face and said "You faggot!!! I'll show you what real pain is. Take him to chamber 20!" He saw fear creep into Castiel’s eyes.  
Chamber 20 was a solitary confinement room which had high walls and no   [lights. It ](http://lights.it/) wasn't even a room, it was a corner. It was also known as Yellow Eye´s private prison. He was known to break hardened criminals in there. Castiel was supposed to stay in there all night. And Uriel had told him Yellow Eyes really let his demon out at night.

Castiel sat in the dark in anticipation, preparing himself for the night. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

The phone was ringing loudly.

"Ok... Ok I'm up" Leona woke up with a start. She rolled over to the side of her bed. She saw that it was  11.30am . 

"Hello!!" she said barely opening her eyes.   
"Oh my God you're still in bed" she heard Jess's panicked voice. "OK, Gabriel is back and he's been asking for you like crazy. Better get your ass to work" Jess said and hung up.   
"Oh God no...” Leona groaned and pushed herself out.  _ This must be something serious. _ Gabriel rarely asked for her other than if the case was extremely important.  _ But what could be so important. _

"Oh no, my head" she said holding her head. She finished having a bath (if you could call standing under the cold shower for five min that). It had sure as hell woken her up, but now she was cold and her head hurt. She put on her coffee pot, donning a pair of jeans, a blue shirt and a black blazer afterwards. That's what she loved about working with Gabriel; he was never fussy with dress codes. "Coffee... Check...keys... Check... House keys... Check....wallet... Check and.... Phone **....** yes" she said making her final check. She ran down the stairs and got in her car just as the parking officer was coming around. "Sorry" she said to him and drove off.

Just then she looked down to see her bare feet. "Oh God" she said getting angry at herself. "I'm an idiot" she complained, banging her head on the headboard. Just then she saw from the corner of her eyes that something sparkled in the back seat: a pair of shockingly pink wedges.    
"Thank you, Dorothy" she said as she pulled them out. Last night, Dorothy had been so wasted that she  had removed them in her back seat and had forgotten them. She reached her office and somehow got into the elevator. She looked taller than everyone in there. She tried not to look at the stares she was getting and began praying that her floor would just come soon. The elevator doors opened and she got out. 

"Oh thank God, you're here.... What the hell are you wearing?" Jess said looking at her and then at her shoes. "Just go" she said with exasperation.   
She stood outside of Gabriel's office and knocked lightly. "Get in here already" he said.  _ Jeez what had happened? _ __   
"Have a seat…" he was looking into a file, closing it, he looked up at her. 

"How was your vacation?", he asked. 

"Good I guess", Leona said hesitantly. "How is Kali?"   
"She's fine, but I have bigger troubles, and I need your help", Gabriel said coming straight to the point.   
"Okay…", Leona said, frowning at Gabriel’s worried face.   
"Just say that you won't say no" he said, reaching over the table.   
"Gabe, have I ever said no"she said, taking his hands in her own.   
"I want you to help me out in a case....be my assistant..."   
"Ok..."   
"It's a criminal case" Gabriel said looking down. It seemed like someone had sucked the life out of Leona's face. 

"Gabe....” she began. 

Gabriel pressed her hands gently and said "Please, it’s about.... Cassie." He tried to hold back his tears.   
"What?? How.... When???....Oh God."   
"Will you?"   
"Oh my God, yes Gabe... Yes, anything you say."   
_ No wonder this was urgent _ .  _ Gabriel's only brother Castiel was in trouble. _

"What happened?"   
"Remember the lakeside killings?"   
"Yeah...killings.... Hmmm, I thought it was just one. But then it was after I left for the vacation."   
"Vacation...hmmmmm...where did you go to?"   
"Cuba."   
" Wow, you really hate this country" Gabriel said trying to lighten the mood.   
"Oh, come on... Gabe, concentrate."   
"Oh yes... So, here is the file. Apparently while I was out they decided to send Cassie to prison",Gabe continued without mincing his words.   
"Thanks-" Just then the phone rang and Leona got up, leaving Gabe’s office. She came into her office and put the file on the table.  _ God, why didn't Castiel get arrested in something like defamation or even tax fraud? Anything that did not involve the frickin DA of this city _ !! she thought, nursing her headache caused by the previous’ night’s drinking. 

"Coffee!" Jess came in with a coffee mug in her hand. "You’re a lifesaver" Leona said, taking it from her hand.   
"When did you come back? How was Cuba?" she said coming inside her office.   
"Uh... Oh, it was great! But then when I barely landed back, Dorothy called for her bachelorette. So I went to see her and the rest is history."   
"You just needed an excuse to get drunk" Jess said smiling, but there was worry clouding her eyes. Leona sensed it and said "Ok... I need to look at this file. We'll catch up later at lunch."

She did not want to have that conversation again with Jess.   
\------   
"Hey, what are ya doin here?" Benny asked Uriel who was in the administration office. It was around 7 in the evening and no prisoner was allowed outside.  "You should be inside" he said, rising from his chair and reaching for his baton. 

"Listen you gris...." Uriel checked his words. There was no way Benny would help if he called him grisly. He calmed himself and continued. "Yellow Eyes has Castiel. You gotta help…" 

Benny looked around and said "What makes you think I'll help you?"   
"Cos I know you aren't like them pi...." he checked himself again.   
"Sorry, I just have to be careful. I don't want to end up like the last snitch" Benny explained himself. The funny thing was that prison rules here applied to prison guards as well. Hendrix, who had reported the situation here, which had resulted into Burton being dismissed, was beaten up brutally just the day after the Bureau of Prisons received his complaint. Many said it was Yellow Eyes and a couple of others, including members of the Soldiers of God.   
Benny knew exactly where McKinnon had taken Castiel. As they came closer to the special cell they could hear pained screams. 

"Oh God... Castiel" Uriel said.   
"You stay right behind me" Benny said to Uriel standing at the side of the cell. He rummaged through his pocket and discovered his phone. He dialled Dean's number, his home number. The phone rang; Benny was hoping that Dean was home. 

"Hello" Dean answered in his deep voice. "Sir, it's Benny Lafitte."   
"Benny.... What happened?"   
"Uh....sir" Benny hesitated. "Oh come on, man, the man's dying in there" Uriel whispered loudly in Benny's ear. 

"Who is that Benny? Who’s dying?" Dean asked.   
"Sir, a prisoner is being beaten to death by one of the guards."   
"WHAT ....well then stop it now. I give you full authority to stop this by any means possible. I'll get there as soon as possible. We cannot have another violation” he said with urgency in his voice.   
Benny raised his baton. "Hey, who's in there? Come out now!!  The both of you!" The screaming and the groaning stopped, suddenly there was muffling sound. "Hey, open this damn door!" Benny yelled again. "Ouch", someone whispered from inside.   
"Help please!!”   
"Ok that's it, Come out or I'm breaking this lock”.

Suddenly the iron door rustled and opened, showing McKinnon’s head. He was wearing his undershirt and pants with no belt. He held a baton in one of his hands. The knuckles of his other hand were stained red with blood. He looked down to the floor at a discarded shirt and a Taser. Castiel was sitting there with his belt around his neck and hands tied to his back. His face looked like a palette of angry red, blue and purple. His nose seemed broken and there was blood around the corners of his mouth and on the floor.    
"Jesus Christ, man... Why did you hit him in the face?" Benny said, staring at Castiel with disbelief and horror in his eyes.   
"I was teaching him discipline..." McKinnon said, smiling towards Castiel.   
"Just give him to me, this prison is in enough trouble with your 'disciplinary actions'", Benny went in to pick Castiel up. Meanwhile Yellow Eyes walked out towards the main hall. Uriel, who was hiding so far, came out of the darkness and joined Benny in the cell. "Oh God, he's an animal" he said as he undid the belt around Castiel's neck. 

"Castiel ....are you ok?" Uriel asked as the man collapsed onto the floor.

  
\----

  
“Castiel Novak, known photographer for the  _ En Vogue  _ magazine, was arrested in the early hours of the morning, charged with the murders of fellow colleague Benjamin Thorne, musician John Brady and 2 other young men,” the news reporter read on the video that Leona was watching.     
“The district attorney Sam Winchester had this to say: ‘This is one of the most shocking series of murders that this city has ever seen. The DA's office will be looking to get the harshest punishment sentence....’” Leona closed the video on her laptop. She looked left; outside her office window the evening shadows were fast encroaching. She decided to call it a day. She picked up her purse and wore her sports shoes that Jess had found in her office locker. 

She went down and met Cory the guard. "Here are my keys to the car, can you drive it back home? I'll be walking home." He nodded and took the keys from her hands. "Do take the umbrella, Miss, it might just rain tonight" he said, running outside. She took his umbrella and stepped out. She walked down the street to see that most of the people were filing out into the street leaving their grey offices towards home. She walked quietly towards her favourite place.  _ The Paradise _ was a cafe situated on the lakefront in the middle of the park. Since the winter had just begun, there were hardly any tourists or kids, just regulars like her.

Mary smiled at her and came over. "Hey there, long time no see. Where have you been, honey?"   
"Oh, nothing special, I was just travelling” she said, smiling.   
"Oh, nice... Seems like you're back at work again" Mary said, looking at Leona’s backpack. Mary was always so attentive and observant, just like her sons. Well - attentive like Dean, she would have to say. "Yeah, back to work....what about you? How's it been without your best customer" she said smiling.   
"Hahahaha, oh honey, we all missed you, but yeah, things haven't been that good as they used to be. The holiday season was good though....well, look at me getting all chatty. You got work to do and I need to get you food. You must be hungry."   
"Why are you taking the order, where is Beth?"   
"Oh, she left early."   
"Ok, then you've to promise me one thing."   
"And what would that be?"   
"Please let me pay....I feel guilty  that I sit here for hours, use your free WiFi, drink like a gallon of your delicious coffee and gorge on all the delicious  food you keep sending at my table."   
"Haha, but how can I... You're family.” That still hurt, she wondered. She just smiled drily and said "You've to charge me something."   
"Alright, you can pay what you feel like. I'll let you get back to your work." With this she left Leona at her corner booth overlooking the lake.    
_ So what all have I learned about Castiel? Young photographer... Correction young drop dead handsome fashion photographer. Who as always is the case is a homosexual. The first victim, Benjamin Thorne, is a colleague, fits the profile and the next guy, the musician or violinist, had met Castiel at a function and then became his client slash lover. Found dead in his hotel room just after his performance.  The next guy, unfortunately named Guy, was a scientist and Owner of bio-tech firm. The last fellow was the guy next door literally, the neighbour's kid who was a high school jock. But here was the funny part: he did not fit the part. A serial killer would start at home with the neighbour’s kid and then the scientist or the musician and the colleague.  And what was the idea while selecting his victims? Last question that puzzled her most was: why kill people with a strong base _ _?  _ __ _ As the state psychiatrist  claimed,  the killing was a fetish for Castiel. Then why not kill like prostitutes or other members of the society who no one cared for?  The DA's theory was that he had killed all those people as crimes of passion, but then technically he had sex only with the first three. Castiel refused any sexual relations with Josh. Then why murder them, was it because they refused him or was it because they had advanced on him and it had been self-defence. She looked out the window; the rain was slowly dripping on now. The coffee that Mary quietly had kept pouring was steaming hot and smelled wonderful. She picked it up and drank a sip. _

 -----

"Oh my God, how did this happen? Who’s behind this?" Dean asked Benny loudly as Uriel looked on. Benny and Uriel both looked down at the same time. 

"Answer me", he went over to Uriel. 

"They’ll hang me in my cell" Uriel said with genuine fear in his voice.   
"I cannot believe this, I cannot tell the difference between the prisoner and an officer of the law here". There was a knock on the door and Officer Mason walked in with a disc. "Sir, the surveillance doesn't show anyone."   
"Perfect...just frickin perfect."   
"Sir, the doctor is here."   
"Good, send them in!"   
Dr. Harvelle entered the room. "I just came as soon as you called. This better be worth my time." She looked at the bruised body of Castiel.   
She switched on her penlight and raised his eyelid. “He’ll live. Should I ask who did this or what happened?" she asked drily.   
"I'm in the dark as much as you are."   
"Sure… you are" she said smirking. Dean furrowed his brow at this comment. He asked Benny and others to leave the room. Dr Ellen Harvelle had been a medic at the city prison for the last 15 years. She had seen way too many dead bodies, and not all of them were because the prison had the highest number of death penalties in the country. 

"Why would you say that?" Dean asked.   
"What…" she said while cleaning up Castiel's face.   
"It’s like you did not believe me."   
"Son, I've been in and around this prison when you were still in college. I know how things work here", she said, opening Castiel’s shirt. As she opened it, she saw the bruises on his body, it was coloured in red and blue.   
"Son of a bitch" he said looking over her shoulder. .   
"You really don't know how things work around here, do you", she said looking up.   
"Oh yeah, I guess they forgot to mention to me that I was being sent to Guantanamo", Dean said sarcastically.   
"All I can say is that this is not the first time this boy has been beaten up. Can you just boil some water in that kettle and get it here? I'm not saying that in other places they make sure that the bruises don’t show but here they don't even try to hide it."   
"Sure" Dean said, only half paying attention to what Dr Harvelle was saying. He was looking at Castiel’s pale yet bruised form. Beneath all those bruises he could not help but notice that he was an attractive man. Although he wasn't as beefed up as Dean, yet he was slender and fit. And then there was the face, a sharp nose and the even sharper jawline. And those dry and pale yet perfect lips.  The beeper went off, the water was warm and Dean's chain of thought was broken.

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

"Isn’t he just amazing?” Anna asked Castiel as he looked on completely enraptured by John Brady's performance of the Midnight Sonata. _Who would have thought someone with the name Brady would be so good in classical music. I'm such a prude...._ all of a sudden the music stopped and the lights went out.

A lone viola began playing. Then suddenly an electric guitar thrummed to life. As the lights came back on, it was Brady against the guitarist. At first Castiel was shocked and even a little offended, but then as the rhythm gained momentum and it became difficult for the audience to stay in their seats, Castiel found himself up and clapping and joining the chorus. _No wonder_ _Anna had insisted on this concert. She wasn't exactly the opera going crowd.... She was more of the experimental theatre crowd._

It was in complete contrast of who she was in the outside world. Anna was closed off and a recluse of a girl who had dedicated her life to spreading the good word of the Lord. So to see her enjoying this fusion of classical music and rock was interesting.

"You won't believe the surprise I've got for you." Castiel looked at her a little skeptically. 

"What!? You're telling me that this was not a surprise already?" he said, smiling at her.  
"Castiel...” she said in mock offense "isn't he just dreamy...?"   
"Oh....now I get it. That’s the reason why you brought me here instead of the Christian Rock Festival. Well yes, he is…"

Castiel was really glad that he had listened to Anna. He was on the verge of going crazy with the constant talk of murder at his office. He was always on the edge since he still could not find any explanation for how he had ended up home with blood on his shirt. He had avoided meeting anyone and taken a 2 week holiday, almost locking himself in his house. He had also visited his doctor to see if his epilepsy was in a relapse. The doctor had assured him that there was nothing to worry about, but just to put Castiel at ease he had prescribed him some medications. In fact, it was Anna who had recommended him to her doctor when Castiel had had an episode during their dinner two weeks ago.

"Let's go backstage" she said, holding out her hand to him. Castiel followed her to the backstage rush. People were running around wearing headgear. They passed the hustle and bustle into a corridor.

"Ok... Castiel, you've to tell him who you are…....you know, that you're a photographer for _En Vogue._ "  
"Why?"  
"Cause otherwise I'll be some girl who just came to take his autograph. You'll help me make a good impression."  
As Castiel approached the door, he realized why Anna wanted to stand out. There was a whole bunch of girls standing outside the door of John Brady.... _Seriously, hadn't this guy heard of  image consultants or a manager?_ He stood there in the back while Anna moved forward towards the door with the other girls. He was standing there with his hands buried in his pockets, wondering what he should eat for dinner that was not a cheeseburger. The door opened and one burly guy and another skinny fellow stepped out. The skinny fellow came out and said "one at a time, ladies" to the girls as they all began to swarm at the same time.  
He opened the door behind him and let out an ordinary looking blond guy with intense light blue eyes and a sharp nose. He looked straight at Castiel and checked him out. Castiel looked at him and smirked. All of this happened while he was signing autographs. Castiel saw that Anna was saying something to him in his ear and he clearly looked interested. He looked up straight at him and walked up to him with Anna in tow.

"He's Castiel, my cousin that I told you about" she said introducing them. He never let his eyes falter from Castiel’s face as he stretched his hand and took Castiel’s hand into his.

"She told me you were a fashion photographer" he said in his rather boyish voice.   
"Yes" Castiel rasped.   
Brady’s manager came on, and before he could say something, the musician said, "Please tell _En Vogue_ I'm willing to do that photo-shoot."  
"Oh...ok" said the manager, looking a little confused at both of them.   
"I'll see you there, Castiel" Brady said, smirking at him.   
_Wow, subtlety was not this guy's quality_. He turned to Anna and hugged her, leaving like a storm.

"Wow, isn't that awesome" Anna said, trying to catch a breath.

"Uh... Yeah" Castiel said, looking at her with pity. He was wondering if he should tell her that she would be better off eyeballing any other guy than this one.   
The next day, when he reached office his editor had left a note on his desk _'meet me at the studio'_. He reached the studio to see his editor Rhonda busy in conversation with John Brady.  He looked up straight at Castiel with his intense gaze once again, like there was no one else in the room.

"Oh Castiel, I'm glad you're here. This is.... "  
"Mr. John Brady... I know"  
"Well Castiel, I'm glad you're finally catching up with pop culture."  
"You can hardly call him pop culture artist" Castiel said looking at him.  
"Well, Mr. Brady has finally agreed to a photo-shoot, and I'm giving him to you."  
"You can stay assured."  
"Mr. Brady, he's the best in the business."  
"I know..." John said without faltering his gaze from Castiel’s face. He had to blush now.

As editor and all non-photography people left the studio, John turned to Castiel and said "I'm all yours”.  
_So heartthrob of classical music was into guys... Correction was into him._

"Charlie, can you get him into a tux?" he asked his assistant.  
"So predictable!" he said, smiling at Castiel.  
Castiel ignored the comment and got on to setting up the studio. He decided to go with the usual GQ shot where the Guy looks better than anyone who buys or even looks at it. Making you to falsely believe that reading that magazine and buying the products that they recommend, you could look like him. The shot was amazing; Castiel had turned the average looking John Brady into a fashion icon, a man who would be the envy of every man and the feverish dream of every woman who laid eyes on him.

"That's an amazing shot" John said, sneaking up behind him.

"Yeah.... I guess" Castiel said, looking at his laptop screen where John was looking dapper and cool, fixedly looking at the camera with his bowtie undone and holding his viola.  
"You didn't like it" he said, looking at him over his shoulder.  
"No… I like this one better" Castiel said as he was packing things up. John looked at the image which was him staring down and looking at the music sheets while he sat on a window ledge and it rained outside.

John looked up and snaked his arm around Castiel, touched his face, saying "You see people, Castiel".  
He closed the distance between them with a kiss. He had always tasted of strawberries. 

\--------

"The brains were turned into mush or slush" Ash said, looking at Leona's pink slushy. She looked up and made a disgusted look, pushing  the slushy aside.

"I'll take that" he said, grabbing it from her. Meet Ash Lindberg, 21, intern, smart and charming (in his own way). Well, Leona had to give it to him. He had managed to get all the coroner's reports for Castiel’s case. He has the _‘Kavorka’ making him irresistible to the opposite sex_ Gabriel had said about him. 

"He's the musician guy, right?" Leona asked, looking at the pictures from the crime scene.  
"Yup, there was no sign of breaking and entering. The last person to be up there was our guy" he said, pushing another photograph taken from CCTV, showing Castiel walking through.  
_Great... Just perfect...if this guy was innocent, then he was the poster child for 'being at the wrong place at the wrong time.'_  
"What was the murder weapon?" she asked.  
"The COD was blunt force trauma to the head with a heavy round, possibly cylindrical object.... My guess is baseball bat."   
"Hmmm, did they find it with our perp?"  
"Nope, neither the vic had any such thing. Could you believe it that even  he  was gay?"  
"What’s wrong with being gay?"  
"Well I don't have any personal problem with them, but I'm not sure if this a good place for their kind to live" Ash said, being defensive.  
"That's the reason he's dead, isn't it?" Leona said sharply.

She had always hated the bigoted ways of her city. 

_Her city....When had this happened?  She was a California girl...freewill; liberal - everything was sunny in Cali. She looked at her parents’ picture holding her 6 year-old Self and smiling into the camera.  Her mom and dad were both lawyers who had always helped the needy and poor living on the margins of San Francisco city. Hell, she had done her first internship with their crisis centre.  That's when she had met Sam, the trainee._

_He was tall and awkward; on her first day, her mom had told her: “Hun, could you help out Sam? He's your father's’ assistant, and your father is giving him a hard time as usual."_

_Her father was called the 'Slave Master’ - her mother had come up with the nickname._

_She went to his office door and knocked. "Come in" said a voice from a distance._

_She came in to see the small office crammed with papers and files. She could not see the owner of the voice. On a table she saw two towers of papers; peeking through, she said: "Hi, I'm the new...."_ _  
_ _"Lady, I don't have time for anything, I’ve been searching for the Johnson file for the last hour. Mark is gonna give my ass handed to me!" Leona looked around and spotted it on the top of the pile._

 _"Is it the blue file that says Johnson on it?" The new guy raised his head from under the table. "Uh…. yeah"_ _  
_ _"Here" she said, placing it in his hands as he rose from underneath the table._

 _"Uh... Hi....I'm.."_  
_"Sam... Hi I'm Leona, I was wondering if you needed some help. I'm the new intern.... Maggie sent me here."_  
_"Wow, she is so sweet. Uhm.... Yes.... I actually need a lot of help and.... Oh I'm so sorry for my language."_ _  
_ "That's ok, I know how Mark is."

"They went over to his room in Ritz Carlton after his concert", Ash said continuing his info exchange. "But they didn't come together. They arrived at the room with a gap of an hour."

"Yeah I get that, but what I don't get is the motivation for doing this" she said, breaking away from the memory lane. "I mean with the first guy I can I see that he was cheating on him and his wife/girlfriend, but why this guy?”  
"Well, the prosecution is saying that since he was a famous musician, he had to be discreet about their relationship" Ash replied.  
"Hmmmmm……Let’s talk to the manager. What happened to our request to meet the client?” she asked.  
"Well, you know how county prison is? Plus it seems there are a few issues at the prison" Ash informed her.  
"Oh yeah I had read about that....wasn't the current jailor William Burton replaced due to charges of cruelty to prisoners?" she -asked, remembering the news she had read.  
"Hey...Don't change the minor violations” Ash said smiling. "The way they treat prisoners is shameful in this state. No wonder Gabriel is so worried" he said, looking at Gabriel's office as he saw him pacing inside.

"Who’s the new guy?" she asked, looking into her laptop screen.   
“Ummm, let me check....bingo, this is gonna be an easy one for you" he said, giving her that sly smile.

"Why are you saying that?" Leona said, looking at him skeptically.

"Cos Dean Winchester is the new guy running the county prison."

\--------------------------

Dean snapped himself out of his thoughts as Castiel groaned in pain. “Doctor, is he going to be alright?" Dean asked, trying to keep emotion out of his voice. It did not miss Ellen's ears though.

She looked up from where she was sitting "Are you really concerned for him or your job?"   
"Doc, I don't get why it is so difficult for you to learn the fact that someone is concerned for these people for once?"  
"I'm sorry kid,  it's just that very few people outside these prison walls care for them. For everybody they're just people who have been judged and have been ordered to leave society, for them it’s an _‘out of sight, out of mind’_ kind of thing . And in here people like you think you're some kind of executioner of justice and believe it's your duty to make them feel subhuman. Some kind of work of God” she said while tending to Castiel’s wounds. "Plus this kid has been one of the regulars to me. I guess his kind doesn’t find acceptance anywhere, not even among the society's scum."  
"Has this happened before?" Dean said, looking at Castiel’s bruised face.  
"Of course it has" she said, glancing up at him.   
"Listen Ellen, I know you think I'm just like the others, but I'm not. I'm desperately trying to change the situation here and there's no one here who is willing to help **.** ...and I'm asking for your help here" he said,looking at her with his piercing green eyes with the earnest look of a man determined to make a change.   
"Hmm....Ok. See, these wounds here on his stomach?  They're caused by a rod made of iron. I've seen the handywork before. It’s Yellow Eyes."  
"Yellow eyes, who’s that?"  
"Officer McKinnon is known by that name. Well, you've a name now."  
"Indeed I do" Dean said, smiling to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

_It’s crazy Leona, I'm not going out there" Sam said pulling his hand back from her._ _  
_ _"Come on, it'll be fun, also with the rain no one will see your killer moves!" With that she pulled Sam’s hand again and got him onto the street party. Most people were still there dancing to Latin music. ‘Livin la vida loca’ was playing loudly in the background. Sam was clearly self conscious with all the proper jive salsa dancers around them. "I'm not..." with that he saw Leona was dancing like she was out of the Walk like an Egyptian video. Sam laughed out loudly looking at her and joined her pace. They both danced like Egyptians in circles shocking their nearby dancing couples and other onlookers. But it did not matter to Sam and Leona, they just merrily danced around each other when the song stopped and they both paused and people around applauded. Leona hugged him and Sam hugged her back tightly. Instead of breaking the hug and letting her go, Sam caught her in his arms and kissed her. At first Leona protested, but she did part her lips while her hands found their way into his hair. As they finally broke the kiss, Leona looked at him in confusion. Sam smiled and said "I love you, Leona Hornstaff."_

_\------_

"Who does that?" Ruby looked up at Sam who was looking intently at the TV screen watching  _‘4 weddings and 1 funeral'_ while she snuggled next to him.

"Oh yeah" he chimed in, _never happens to anyone except me_ he thought to himself. 

"Aww honey, are you bored?" she said looking up at him.   
"No, not at all" he said smiling at her. _At least it's better than sitting and watching some horror series with two hot guys that Leona liked to watch. What is it called super….something? Wonder what happened after the younger brother jumped into the pit to save his brother and humanity.....why am I thinking about that series?_  
Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Ruby looked at him. "Okay, I'll get it", Sam rose and went to answer the door.   
"Samuel!!" it was Mayor Kendall, Ruby's father.   
"Dad, hi" Ruby said hugging her father.  
"Oh, it's so nice to see you,hun" he said smiling.  
"Come in, Jack" Sam said ushering him inside.  
"Samuel, I'm here to talk to you" said Jack.  
"Ok, Ok, I get it. I'll let you guys talk" Ruby said, taking her cue and going back to her movie. Meanwhile Sam and Jack went to his study. Mayor Jack Kendall had been heading the city for the last 20 years, being a conservative helped a lot in this town. He always had wanted to rise higher in his political career but being an avid gambler did not help his career. The mayor had run into debt and had entered into a rather profitable yet very grey relationship with the local mafia. He saw his golden chance in his daughter's new fiancé Sam Winchester. His father had been a celebrated cop and he himself was smart and a lawyer with a degree from Stanford.  
"So Jack, what brings you here?" Sam said, making drinks for himself and Jack.  
"I'm coming straight from the party meeting. Boy, they're thinking of making you Governor" he said, taking the bourbon from Sam's hand.  
"Wow!! Are you serious? That's great news, Jack" Sam said, smiling brightly.  
"Well boy, you deserve it if you ask me. You've worked hard" he said, clinking his glass with Sam's.  
"Thank you. I don't know what to say."  
"Well son, what did I tell you… You are with us, and you'll get what you deserve - and more."

\------

_Castiel knocked on the door and found it to be open. "I was waiting for you...in here" John said. Castiel entered through the door, removing his shirt and then working himself out of his pants.  
"Wow, you wanna get straight to work" John said, bringing the glass of champagne close to Castiel. He moved his hand across his torso. Castiel took the glass from John's hand and picked out the cherry. He held the tip in his hand and pulled the fruit with his lips into his mouth. John moved his tongue over his lips. Castiel turned to look at him in a lustful manner and walked closer to John who was watching him with an open mouth. He kissed John with a dirty open mouthed kiss. John moaned loudly and pressed himself against Castiel. He could feel John's growing erection and began to unbuckle his pants. The phone rang and John closed his eyes in exasperation. Castiel pulled him close by his belt and said "let the machine take it". He had unbuckled the pants and his hands were already inside of John's pants and into his boxer briefs. . John pushed himself further into Castiel’s hands. The ringing of the phone stopped and Castiel pushed John towards a wall. He was now stroking faster and John was shaking under his touch. His hands made their way on Castiel’s hips and squeezed them. Suddenly something crashed in the other room. Both of them were abruptly stopped and looked at each other. _

_"Wait here Castiel, I'll go check it out." John left the bedroom. Castiel began to search the room for something to put on. Then he heard something hitting the ground with a thud. Castiel put on a robe and called out to John. He heard a groan and then "Castiel stay inside" he heard John groan in pain and then another thud._

_He got scared and rushed out of the bedroom door and heard boots walking around in the darkness of the sitting room. As he turned to his left he saw a small wall lamp had been lit. Suddenly his head started spinning wildly and he closed his eyes. He collapsed on the floor and as he hit the ground, he saw the two dead eyes of the bloodied corpse of John Brady looking at him. Then his vision blurred....._

"Not again!!!!” he awoke as two strong arms held him down. He looked up and saw a set of green eyes looking right at him. He was saying something, but Castiel could not make the words out. He now focused his attention to what the man was saying and turned his head to one side. The man stopped midway of his sentence looking intently at Castiel. He looked like he was mesmerized by Castiel’s blue eyes.   
"My God, you're pretty....uhm.... Are you ok?" the officer said checking himself. Castiel continued looking at him in bewilderment. All of a sudden Dr. Ellen whom he knew very well thanks to his frequent visits, walked in "Hey, you are up."

Officer Winchester got up and let go of his hands. "He woke up suddenly, like from a bad dream or something." He continued looking at Castiel. Ellen sat down, flashing her light in his face. Castiel closed his eyes and looked away. She then closed the light and said “Hi, my name is Dr. Ellen. Can you hear me?"  
Castiel nodded.   
"Good, can you talk?"  
"Yes, where am I?" he said looking around . He had a gravelly voice which did something to Officer Winchester turned his back to Castiel and Ellen pretending to check some books.  
"You’re in the office of the correctional officer" she said. "Do you remember what happened?"  
It was as though someone had switched on a light switch that had all of the memories come flowing out.   
"Yes, I do... I was being disciplined by Yellow Eyes...." he said, looking up sternly. Officer Winchester turned around to look at him. Castiel changed his look from  bewildered lost look to a stern one and settled on white hot rage.

He asked him:"Why?"  
Castiel did not answer and looked away.

"Listen, if you don't answer, I won't be able to help you" Officer Winchester said, looking at him.  
Castiel looked at him. “I prefer to not live under the delusion that someone would help me here or anywhere."

The officer walked over to him and glanced at Ellen, silently asking for help. She rolled her eyes.   
"At least tell us what happened?" she said, placing her hand on his legs in a motherly tone. 

“Why don't you ask Gordon Belford.”  
Officer Winchester looked straight at him, gave him a sly smile and said: "Thanks."

\------ 

 _It had been a sunny day when Gabriel had come home with great news; he had been accepted into UCLA. Though it wasn't the best place to study law, for Gabriel California spelt freedom from the control of his uncle, a place where he could live his life the way he wanted.  He also knew one other person who wanted to go to California as bad as him, his younger brother Castiel. Cassie had always loved the sun and also he hoped to find a better acceptance for who he was than here. As Gabriel's car entered the house, he heard loud voices. He rushed into his house and saw Castiel on the floor with a bruise. Uncle Zack was standing tall over him and Luci sitting on the edge of the chair with his hands covering his face.  There were gay porn magazines strewn in front of Castiel. Luci had bloody knuckles as well. Had Luci hit Cassie? He heard soft sobs and turned up to see Anna weeping on the stairs. "This is filth you bring here, you heathen. How dare you? This is the house of God fearing people. And today if Luci wouldn't have been there those boys would've killed you. How could you, Castiel? How could you stray so far from God's path? How could you even harbor such feelings for your fellow men? You know God created us straight; these feelings arise when the devil takes over. That's it boy, you're going to bible camp. "_ __  
_Suddenly both Luci and Gabriel looked up in shock. “But...." Luci said._ __  
_"No buts. Boy, go upstairs and get packing. I'll talk to pastor Westwood."_ __  
_Castiel scrambled to his feet and went upstairs, wiping his tears._ __  
_Suddenly Gabriel's trance was broken and he spoke. “You cannot send him there" he said to his uncle._ __  
_"What did you say?" Zachariah turned around looking at Gabriel.  Luci got up and placed his hand on his shoulder and said "It's the right thing, Gabriel. He needs help."_ __  
_"Help!!! What help? He's normal, it's you guys who need help. Luci, what's wrong with you, he´s our brother!"_ __  
_"Watch your mouth, boy" Zachariah said, almost raising his hand on Gabe._ __  
_"You don't scare me, ok. And you're not sending him in that death camp run by that sadistic priest." At this Zechariah was about to hit when Gabriel caught his hand midair._ __  
_"Gabriel!!” Luci yelled at him._ __  
_"What's wrong with you? He's our uncle and he just has our good at his heart?"_ __  
_"Our good??? What's the matter with you Luci, he's planning to throw away our brother into that camp? You know better than anyone what happened with Tommy Fitzpatrick. He killed himself when he came back from that place...or any of the choir boys..."_ __  
_"Fitzpatrick fellow was too far gone.” Zachariah said explaining._ __  
_"Oh yeah, and what about Connor or Mike or..."_ __  
_"ENOUGH!!” Luci said with a tear pricking his eyes. Gabriel turned to him and said "Luci, please." Luci turned his face away from him._   
Something inside Gabriel snapped and he went upstairs to Castiel's room. "Cassie, we're leaving" he said. They waited till uncle Zack went out, Luci left, and Anna hid in her room.

_\-------_

"Gabriel, are you ok?" Leona asked.  
"Huh, I didn't hear you, come in" he said distractedly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to  **s** care you, but I think we can get some kind of leeway in here. So far they only have circumstantial evidence against him. If we find evidence to the contrary, it can really strengthen our case. We can then re-open the case."  
He turned around and smiled at her "I agree on that. Let's keep digging...”   
"I will" Leona said and was about to leave when Gabriel said, "So far, I had saved him from all the prying eyes and hands...I'd told him not to come back here.  This place it just... It's taken everything away from me" he said, holding back tears.  
"Gabriel" she said, stretching her hand and holding his.

  
A cloud of smoke filled the air. "Mr. Novak?" Patricia poked her little head inside.   
"Yes?"   
"Sir, your uncle is on line 2. He says he cannot get to you via phone"  
_Huh - Mr. Novak_ … he missed Betsy. The temp was calling everyone _Mr..._  
"Hello" he said, picking up the phone.  
"Luci, son, where are you?" uncle Zack's booming voiced echoed.  
"At the station, that's where you called" Luci said, controlling the sarcasm in his voice. Uncle Zack was always displeased with attitude.   
"Son, you left without breakfast?" he said, sounding concerned.  
"uh... Yeah, I did...had a case"  
"look at you, working so hard. I'm telling you, your father would have been proud."  
"hmmmm" Luci said, listening only half-heartedly.  
"Well son, I called you to remind you to come for the dinner...Luther Gideon is visiting us" he informed proudly.  
"I will" Luci replied drily.   
"Son, how's the Walker case?" he inquired.  
"We’re still investigating" he said, pressing the bridge of his nose.  
"I don't get it, why are you are still wasting your time on this? It's an open and shut case. The boy has a past record that should be enough to get a conviction" he said, getting excited.  
"Well uncle, he was just seen hanging outside the church after the bible group broke out" Luci said, pressing his temple.   
"Well, the reason for my interest is that this makes our neighborhoods and even sacred places of worship unsafe. The longer it takes, the more riled up people will get" he said explaining himself. _He's towing the mayor's office line_ .   
"Anyways, I need to get back... I'll see you in the evening" uncle Zack closed the conversation after Luci´s silent response to his explanation.  
He opened the file and saw LeBron Walker, an 18 year old African American teen. He was caught on the charges of assault and break in. The only evidence was security camera footage where he was standing outside the church premise. Well it seemed the most definitive evidence against the boy for the mayor's office and the other parishioners. He fit the bill of young black person who didn't belong in that neighborhood at that time. It seemed that the city wanted some people to never step out of the shadows. Officer Lucian Novak was given the responsibility to serve and protect all, but lately it seemed he protected one set of people more than the others. These people were getting nervous... So he had to put someone behind bars to calm them down. Even if that someone was family.


	6. Chapter 6

The sun shone brightly on the surface of the prison grounds. The whole place seemed like on fire on the horizon. He had sent Castiel to the infirmary with Ellen.

"Sir, I got these two" Benny said pushing Gordon and his friend Bear. Dean turned to look at them and saw that Gordon was putting on a brave face, but he could see the guilt on Bear's face.

"Hmmmm...So you're Gordon Belford and Bear Watkins?"

"Sir, Yes sir," Bear said with a little more enthusiasm, earning him a glare from Gordon.

"Benny, you can wait outside. You two can have a seat". As they sat down, Dean realized that Gordon was tightly holding his fist. _Hmmm, he's nervous,_ Dean observed _._ He pulled out two files and put them in front of the two inmates.

"So boys, you've been causing trouble for some time now. Do you guys plan to stay here long?"

Gordon smirked "Do we have a choice?"

"Well, with this record-  no..." Dean said, twisting his mouth. “Do you know why you’ve been brought here?"

"No, sir" Bear responded.

Dean stood up from his chair. "To make sure that this place functions more like a prison rather than a jungle."

"Talk about expensive PR?" Gordon said smiling.

"Well, it's great to know that you understand that. This whole incident is not what I intend to spread around without someone taking a fall for this....Benny?"

Benny walked in with two pieces of paper in his hands. "I've asked Mr. Lafayette to type out your confessions. Sign them so that they can take you off my hands and transfer you to another max security prison...I've heard you've some friends in Nevada, Gordon?"

At that, Gordon's face changed, the earlier nonchalance was now replaced with fear.

"Nooooooo!!" Bear screamed and fell onto his knees. "I've a parole hearing and this here says that it's gonna be cancelled. No, warden, please don't do this!"

Gordon was looking at Bear with horror in his eyes. "Ummm ok... Please?" he said with a timid voice.

"What did you say, boy?" Benny said bending down to him. He looked at him and pleaded, "Benny, you gotta help!"

Just then, Dean freed his leg from Bear's grip and went into the washroom. On his way he said, "Benny, make sure they sign it by the time I'm out. We cannot have such people here anymore. They should see we're reforming!" and closed the door.

As soon as the door closed, Gordon turned towards Benny. "You can't do this, man. I cannot go to Nevada. They'll have me for breakfast!"

"Yeah, and I got kids, Benny!", Bear joined the chorus.

"Listen guys, there might be a way out", Benny said looking towards the door, "they're blaming this on you two cos they don't know who's done it...the guy refused to speak... All of the others saw you fighting, so you're in the can."

Benny saw realization dawn on both their faces. "But it's Yellow Eyes...how can we ..." Before they could say anything else, Dean stepped out. "Did y' all sign it?" When he didn't get an answer, he continued "Listen, boys, you don't sign this paper here, you ain't getting out of here either. We have you on tape."

"That tape has been tampered with", Gordon said; his face had lost all emotions. He looked up. "Officer Larsen edited it.”

Dean looked up at Benny. "Who did he edit out?"

"McKinnon... Sir, Yellow Eyes", Bear said.

Dean had them just where he wanted them. "Can you repeat that for the camera?"

\------

Leona got out of the office with tears welling up. Jessica stood up as she saw her "What happened?”

"Let’s go out for a walk, I need some fresh air.” With this Jessica picked up her purse and they both went down and out of the building. They began walking towards the garden. Jessica broke the silence "So-  lunch?"

"Oh yes, anything you fancy?” Leona said, still lost in thought.

"Let’s go to the food truck on the other side of the park. It will give us more time to talk." Leona got the hint and said "I'm worried if I can find something that'll help free Castiel." She looked up with guilt in her eyes.

"What if I cannot save Castiel and Gabriel is depending on me for this?” she said, looking straight ahead with worry in her eyes.

Jessica listened intently and said "hmmm... Leona, one thing I know about you is that you're like a bloodhound when it comes to finding out the truth. In fact I think that's why Gabe even asked you to look into this. Cos only you can see the loopholes" she said, placing her hand on her shoulder.

Leona smiled at her and said, "But there are so many things in my head right now. Too many thoughts, you know..."

"I can see that now," she said knowingly. "Firstly just cool off and then- talk to me."

Leona breathed in heavily and then exhaled. "So far all  I know this that whoever Castiel had a relationship with has ended up dead. And that he's a homosexual photographer with a fashion mag. The murders are claimed to have been committed with a heavy object... That causes blunt force trauma..." Leona was breathing faster and her voice was rising.

Jessica placed both her hands on her shoulders and said "shhh, calm down... Just breathe."

Leona and Jessica had reached the food truck. "Are you ok?"

"I think I need to talk to this guy."

“Does that mean you need to talk to Dean?"

"Yes. God, I’d prefer, anything other than talking to him."

"Oh come on it's not like you're talking to Sam"

"Oh,  it all starts like this!"

"I frankly don't get it why are you so worried about him. He's engaged, you know."

"Thanks, Jess you're a true friend," Leona said sarcastically.

"Come on," Jessica said, pulling out Leona's phone from her purse.

"It’s just that, I hate getting back with people who knew us together, because one way or the other they'll bring it up!”

"Well, you do go to Mary's cafe-" Leona held up her hand and said "Hey, there's some very delicious food involved."

Jessica smiled and said, "There's a delicious gentleman involved too. "

"Jess...he's in a relationship, and also - it’s  Dean,  he's more like a friend, ok?"

"Relationship...that one was over 6 months ago. She just walked out one day."

"I don't believe you.”

"Well, she's getting married next weekend!"

"Wow-  I've to know what happened there!"

"There you go...you have your reason," Jessica said taking their food orders while Leona dialed Dean's number.

\-----

Castiel woke up once again, and this time he saw a guy standing over him. He was thin, with a sharp nose and grey hair. The man stared at Castiel as though he was a curious scientific anomaly rather than a real person.

"Hmmmmm the injuries do look serious, and I must congratulate the young man. Seems he's already found who did this. Thank you, doctor, for informing me."

Puzzled, Castiel looked at him and turned his head to see Dr. Harvelle behind the man. The man walked away and Dr. Harvelle told him that she would be with him shortly. She came up to Castiel and said, “Well, you look like you're healing better. I'll be going to the hearing now."

"Wow, that's fast?" Castiel said with amazement.

"Well, son, after your prison ranks among the top 5 in the country in unnatural prison deaths you generally do come under the microscope. And don't tell the warden, I think that kid really wants to change a few things around here," she smiled at him and left the room.

Castiel was wondering whether the warden was trying to assure himself a permanent job. Castiel had long lost faith in the basic kindness of the human heart. He thought that change in him happened when his elder brother had stood there, looking ice cold, pointing a finger in his direction, and had said, "That's the man responsible."

That was the day Castiel was convinced that he had indeed killed those people. Maybe he did have issues, as the prosecutor had said: “Deep rooted issues that came from constant rejection from society; the men that this man killed represented that very society. He was good enough to meet and fuck in the darkness of night but never in broad daylight.”

 _A dirty secret..._ he had said, looking straight at Castiel. Castiel was convinced he was the killer, maybe his mind had blocked all that violence and it was there somewhere. He needed to be locked up, he was the monster who was different and who nobody wanted to see. He got up, his head spinning wildly. He tried to focus his attention and saw a blur of a picture on the opposite wall. As he focused his attention, he saw that it was a picture of Christ. Castiel picked up the clock next to his table and threw it in the direction of the picture.  Both the picture and clock smashed to pieces.

\------------

 

Officer Edwin Larsen and McKinnon were standing in the Warden's office. Dr. Ellen along with another white-haired man came into the room. Dean put down a bunch of files on the table loudly so as to gain the attention of the two men. They both looked startled. "Mr. Styne, so nice of you to join us," Dean said.

"I'm sorry not to share your enthusiasm, Mr. Winchester.” Mr. Styne said, looking at the two officers.

"Do you have anything to say?" Mr. Styne said, addressing the two.

"Whatever we did, it was necessary in order to stop another prison riot," McKinnon said, explaining himself.

"We’re not just talking about your behavior in the hall, officer," Dean said, looking pointedly at the man. McKinnon was alarmed now. He seemed to be running names in his mind, trying to figure out the snitch. And he turned his head around to look for Benny but all he saw was Dr. Harvelle.

"Officer McKinnon, how do you explain this?" Dean said using the remote to turn on the TV. They saw black and white footage of a man in prison guard uniform dragging another man by his hair into one of the rooms just next to the boiler room. Then Dean fast forwarded to see Benny and Uriel rushing to the room. He switched it off. McKinnon had turned white in his face and looked at Larsen sitting next to him, who was looking down at his hands.

"That’s prisoner abuse," said the man with the white hair. "This is Mr. Wentworth Styne from the federal bureau of prisons."

"Dr. Harvelle, how serious are the injuries?" Dean turned his attention to her.

"All I can say is that those aren't just injuries caused by the rod that's provided."

"Also here are two prisoners’ statements on officer McKinnon that he did indeed just take Castiel despite the fact these were also involved in the fight as well."

Mr. Styne removed his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "This is truly horrifying. I've heard the testimonies of the other two and the evidence from the footage provided by Larsen is incriminating. Suspension from active duty, pending further investigation."

"Let’s go," Benny said to McKinnon, he got up, continuing to stare at Dean, and finally left.

"Good work, Dean" Mr. Styne stretched his hands to congratulate him. Dean took his hands and said, "Well sir,  this could have been avoided if there was no fighting  in the hall in the first place.”

"Well son, it's a prison," Wentworth said smiling.

"I think there is a lot of pent-up frustration among prisoners. Maybe a good way to get it out might be to give them something to do. The ground is just a dustbowl - maybe if we could get them some gym equipment or get some books to actually make the library a functional one, it might help a great deal”,  Dean said. Ellen looked at him appreciatively and Wentworth observed him intently. He took a deep breath and said, "We cannot have any more prison officials suspended for doing their jobs."

 _Yes, that's what their job is, to beat the living hell out of prisoners,_ Dean thought.

"So - I think you're right, we need something to keep prisoners occupied. You got it, kid. I'll get you what you need" he said, rising in his seat and straightening his coat. As Dean was showing Wentworth and Dr Harvelle out, , his phone rang. He looked at his cell and smiled.

 


	7. Chapter 7

"Leona! Hey, how are you? Uh...Can I call you in a bit…Better still, let's meet for coffee at mum’s café at - say 6? I'm heading out right now."

"Oh hey, okay, that sounds good" Leona said, quickly closing her phone. She looked up to see Jess looking at her disbelievingly. Suddenly it dawned on her that instead of an awkward telephone conversation, she had agreed to a meet and greet at a cafe. She hung her head and Jess said "What did you do now?"  
"I'm an idiot, I agreed to a coffee with Dean" she said exasperatedly.  
"Hmmm, not bad" Jess said, handing over the food packet to Leona.  
"Not bad - it's terrible... What do you think he’s going to talk about?" she said, opening her food box.  
"Well, he still thinks you are his friend" Jess said, taking a bite of her sandwich. Leona looked at her pan seared sea bass and salad.   
"Do you want coffee?" Jess asked. _Wow, that girl could finish her food fast._     
"You know what, I'll get it" Leona said.  
"But you barely started" she said, looking at her food box.   
"I need something sweet to finish it with and you've been a doll so far. So just wait up, I'll get you a... Frappuccino” Leona said getting up. 

  
_Drops of Jupiter played in her iPod as Leona looked up to see that the barista at the cafe was pointing towards something or someone. She looked in the direction he was pointing and saw an extremely handsome young man with cropped hair and stunning green eyes. She removed her earphones and said "yes?"_  
_“I’m looking for Hornstaff and Grant, the law firm?"_ _  
_ "Oh yeah, I work there.  Come on, I’ll show you" She said her goodbye to the barista and picked up the 8 cups of coffee. The guy was following her.

 _"You wear that to office" he said, looking at her khaki shorts._  
_"You’ve a problem with that? Also, it's California" she said, turning around._  
_"Hey, I'm sorry... Plus I ain't complaining" the last part he said under his breath._  
_"I heard that, but you're too cute, so I'll let it slip" she said. "I'm Leona by the way"_  
_"Oh hey_ _,_ _I'm Dean" he said._  
_"So you got a boyfriend?" he asked, now walking with her._  
_"Wow_ _,_ _you don't waste any time_ _,_ _do you?” she said looking at him_ _incredulously_ _._  
_"Let’s just say I don't believe in losing chances_ _,_ _that's Sam's forte" he said, moving his hand through his hair._  
_"Hmmm interesting... We're here. Could you please open the door" she said, stopping_ _in_ _front of their whitewashed office building._  
_Dean walked in front of her and pushed the door_ _open_ _._  
_"Welcome to the offices of Hornstaff and Grant" Leona said, announcing him into the office._  
_"Hmmm - nice joint… very sans motif" Dean observed._  
_"Wow, you've floored me… you're pretty and you know architecture" she said smiling._  
_"Well, I try not to blow away people with my awesomeness" he said, smirking at her._  
_"But I agree, the place is very dull. You should see the couple that runs this place" she said conspiringly._  
_"Who, Hornstaff and Grant?" Dean asked curiously._  
_"Yes them, very dull people you know" Leona said secretly._  
_"Be very careful of what you say next" said Sam, walking up behind her. He took her in his arms and kissed her. And he looked up to see a very confused Dean looking at them and coughing loudly._  
_"Oh hey Dean, it seems you’ve met Leona. She's the girl I told you about" Sam said, looking at Leona._  
_"Oh, so he's the reason you didn't answer me when I asked you about your boyfriend?" Dean said, smiling at her. Leona looked shocked and then a blush creeped up her cheeks_ **_._ ** _She walked away with the coffee cups._  
_"Nice meeting you" Dean called out after her. That was the first time she had called Sam her boyfriend, despite the fact that they had said their ‘I love yous’ one week before.  Leona's silence on the whole matter after that kiss had been unsettling for Sam._

She was walking briskly, enjoying the sun. She took a turn to the right and went into a small convenience store before going to the cafe to get some gum. Just as she entered, she saw Ruby at the counter, buying something for herself. They both just froze and looked at each other. Leona suddenly felt pain in her stomach, turned around and walked straight to the coffee shop. She looked at the menu on the wall and was about to order. But she saw that the barista was pointing to someone behind her indicating to her that she might have jumped the line.  
"That’s ok, let her get the order" said a smooth voice behind her which she recognised immediately. She dared not to turn around. Her mind completely blacked out on her order. The barista kept asking her about her order. Suddenly she felt someone stand next to her and say "I know what she wants , I'm guessing chai latte regular" Sam said, looking at her. The barista looked at her for confirmation. She nodded and said hoarsely "and a coffee Frappuccino". She saw that Sam was leaning against the table, looking at her. The two minutes seemed never ending. Finally she paid and took the bill and collected her order. She hurried out into the street and began walking fast towards the garden.

   
\-------

  
Dean finished his phone call with Leona and let Mr Styne out, shaking his hands with the man one last time. "You will get the money as soon as possible. We cannot afford another incident like this. And once again, good work with the swift action."   
Mr Styne sat in his car and left. Dean looked around and saw that all the guards were now looking at him. Then one of them did a salute to him and others followed. Dean Winchester had arrived and he was gonna change things here whether people liked it or not. As Dean was walking back to his office, he turned his head up, seeing a pair of blue eyes looking down at him. He went inside and decided to go to the infirmary. Something about those blue eyes pulled him towards the man. Somehow Castiel was like a neatly wrapped up riddle and Dean felt the need to unravel him. He entered the infirmary to see the watch had crashed on the floor along with the picture of Christ. Castiel still stood at the window, but now he had turned around and was staring at Dean. It was as though he knew that Dean was going to come up here.   
"Would you care to explain? Or should I just believe that we have a poltergeist haunting?" Dean said, indicating the mess on the floor.  
A faint smile appeared on his lips, he moved towards the cracked glass on the floor.   
"Hey wait, don't do it, let's find a broom for this" D ean said, holding his hand out to stop the man midway.  
Castiel ignored his warning and moved closer. He felt pricking at the bottom of his feet. He bit his lip. Dean was about to stop Castiel but seeing Castiel bite his lips like that, he stopped to admire at how distractingly good looking the man was.   
"Ouch", he said.   
With this Dean realised that he had been shamelessly staring at the man while he was experiencing pain. He went over and held him at his shoulders. "I told you not to do this" Dean said with some force and smacking his lips.   
"Oh, so do I get  _disciplined_ again, officer?", _that gravelly voice again._  
_Is he flirting with me?_  
"Please, step back" Dean felt his throat dry out.  
"Wow, you're more worried about your position than the mayor" Castiel said being clearly sarcastic. Dean looked at him with confusion in his eyes. He saw that Castiel was looking at him defiantly.   
"What is your problem?" Dean asked.   
"My problem is you... And everyone like you. You guys claim to be do-gooders but in reality you're just using people like me. You want to be seen like you care. You like it that people like me are at the mercy of the likes of you" he said with absolute venom in his voice.  
Dean couldn't believe that he had just been reprimanded for doing the right thing.   
"OH My God, hey" Ellen came beside Dean and held Castiel. They both managed to push Castiel away from the glass pieces and onto the bed.

"Oh God, I'll get the forceps. What happened here?" Dean said nothing and pulled the straps of the bed on. He fastened them and looked into Castiel's eyes while Castiel looked away.

"Let’s leave doctor Lecter here strapped for a while, when he decides not to hurt himself you can release him." Dean said to Ellen.

\----- 

"It's just not my day" Leona said sitting hurriedly in front of J ess. She was still looking over Jess's shoulder.   
"Anyone joining us?” Jess said, following Leona's gaze.   
"I hope not" she said, giving Jess her coffee.   
"Wow, chai latte , when did this happen?" she asked, looking at the writing on the cup.   
"Hello, ladies," Ash said joining them. He removed his new shades. He seemed to be searching for something to nibble on from the girls’ lunches. He picked up Leona's food box. Leona gave him the chai latte that she had got.  
"Hmm, thanks" he said, taking a sip from the cup. He saw Jess glare at him. She put a hand on Leona's hand. Leona moved her attention away from looking over her shoulder.   
"What happened , honey?" she asked.  
"Yeah, generally you're not this generous with food" Ash said, taking a bit from her sea bass.  
"I met them both" she said, looking down.  
"Who?” Ash asked and earned another glare from Jess.  
"Oh Hun, where…?" Jessica said placing her hand on her leg.  
Leona took a deep breath and said "Would you believe it , all of the two stores I went to. First, at the convenience store, I saw Ruby" - they heard Ash almost snorting out his coffee. "Then I left the store without getting anything... Then I go to Starbucks and he was right behind me."  
"How did you know?" Ash asked curiously.  
"Cos he ordered for me and then came and stood right there and stared at me" she said, burying her face in her hands.   
"Oh" Ash said, staring at the cup.  
"Are you ok?" Jess asked.  
"I'm just peachy" she said sarcastically.  
"How come he was at Starbucks? I thought he was against big businesses" Ash observed.  
" Cause people change , Ash.... " 

\----- 

_The doorbell was ringing and then someone was banging loudly._

_“Alright, I'm coming" Castiel said, opening the door. At first he looked_ _at_ _the person standing in front of him and smiled. Then he looked at the other two heads behind him and it subsided. Luci was here, but not as brother, but as an officer. "May we come in?"_ _  
_ _"Yes... Of course" Castiel said, sidestepping to let them in._

 _Luci entered and turning around said to his partner and the beat cop,"Wait here."_ _  
_ _He closed the door on their bewildered faces. He pulled out a chair in the kitchen._

 _"Mr Novak, how did you know the deceased John Brady?"_ _His voice was dispassionate, cold and faraway._

 _"I knew him cos I was the one who photographed him for the cover of En Vogue."_  
_"Oh yes, didn't another guy die there as well?" he said, scratching his jaw._  
_"Yes" Castiel said, looking straight at him. He saw a man who was drained out, someone with no sleep for days. Luci looked at him and Castiel could see that his brother was in pain. Castiel almost moved his hand forward to touch his. Lucien withdrew it and coughed slightly "So, where were you on the night of the murder?"_  
_"At his concert" Castiel replied._  
_"What about after that?" Luci asked, looking around the house. Castiel flinched, he wanted to say ‘I was there, and someone murdered him and rendered me unconscious’. But with one look at Luci's face he realised that this was a bad idea, his brother had that stoic look that he had seen on uncle Zack many years ago. He swallowed and said "I left early, I wasn't feeling well."_  
_"Okay it checks out I guess. I'd request you not to leave the city" he said rising up._ _  
_ "Yes, detective Novak" Castiel said bitterly. Luci turned around and looked at him.

 _"Luci" he said this time with longing in his eyes. He inched closer and touched his arm. Lucien just caught his hand dropped it. "Don't touch me" he said._  
_"Why?" Castiel was adamant._  
_"Cause you're not family anymore. You're just a suspect” he said._  
_"That's not true" Castiel said loudly._  
_"What do you know_ _about_ _truths and family? You and Gabe deserted me" he said coming closer. "You two chose who your family was. I was left there as an unwanted child and then an unwanted sibling."_  
_"You didn't stand up for me" Castiel said meekly._ _  
_ _"Oh yeah, I wasn't tolerant_ _of_ _your lifestyle choice. Castiel_ _,_ _I was a child too, you and Gabe just moved out. Without informing me_ _,_ you know how crazy uncle Zack went on me that night." he said, raising his hand and punching Castiel.

_He fell down. "Did you ever wait to think a moment that maybe I wanted out as well?" he said, walking out of the door._

_Castiel got up from the floor. Got his jacket and keys and stepped out into the night. He drove for a while and found a bar._ _Castiel looked through the glass at the bar wall. How had this happened? When had this happened that night? What was even more strange_ _is_ _that how had he made it home that night after John’s murder? It felt like a dangerous dream he wanted to wake up from. The media was still talking about John_ _,_ _how weird the whole incident was. They didn't just stop at that though_ _,_ _they were blaming the police about_ _the_ _whole incident. How incompetent they were and_ _how_ _the city had become game reserve for some psychopath. His brother's face flashed on the news "We're trying to find the perp. He cannot hide for too long" he looked tired and drained out. They were asking him all kinds of questions. “Is there a homosexual angle to this?" somebody asked._  
_"We’re considering all angles here."_  
_"What about the manager? Where is he?"_  
_Yes_ _,_ _Garth had been moved to an undisclosed place._ _  
_ "Do you need some ice for that?" the bartender asked with concern.

 _"Yes, please. " His voice sounded dried out._  
_"Deep wounds, huh?" asked another man who had just come and was standing next to him._  
_"Not really, the ones on the inside go really deep" Castiel said looking up and found a pair of beady eyes looking at him._  


"Castiel, wake up" Uriel’s excited voice broke Castiel’s reverie.

As Castiel opened his eyes, he asked wearily "What happened? "  
"The impossible has happened... Yellow E yes... I mean McKinnon is kicked out" he said smilingly.  
"Really! That's incredible... I guess I should break my legs or something. Cause his friends and admirers will be out for my blood now" Castiel said, looking down at his legs.  
"No, that's the best part; they're saying it was Officer Larsen's evidence and Gordon's testimony!"  
"What?" Castiel asked incredulously. "Are you sure?"  
"A 100% man , I just heard it from Billy."  
"Wow, so does Gordon get beaten up or something?" Castiel inquired.  
"I don't know, man... There might be a riot. It ain't that easy to beat the leader of Black Guerrilla" Uriel said. Castiel looked outside through barred window and saw the evening shadows creeping in.  
\------ 

Sam looked at his phone , it was the third time Ruby had called him. He didn't pick up. He just wrote back that he was in a meeting. He could get the cause of her anxiety.  She had seen Leona in the neighbourhood. Little did she know that he had met her in the coffee shop? He looked at the second cup of chai latte he had ordered and figured that maybe her paranoia had some roots in reality. When Leona had left all flustered , he ordered another chai latte for himself after she had left. _Flustered... Wasn't that like a permanent feature in her?_ She wasn't exactly great at being diplomatic. Her face was like an open book , or maybe Sam had been with her long enough to read it.  
When it came to law or her career or helping others she was so open. It was as though there were no bars. But he knew that there were pages that nobody knew about. Beneath the sarcasm and hard wall of logic there was a flowery eyed girl who believed in the basic goodness of the human heart. Who held a tender heart and made sure no one would see it. And then she had met him. Had he broken her? Had he broken her core? She did look flustered and something else , like she had seen a ghost.   
Was it his fault? Was he to blame for everything that had happened? I guess after the death of Jerome, even he felt that maybe he had faltered somewhere. He picked up the cup, tasted the drink and closed his eyes.

  
\------

Leona was sitting in her office, trying not to think about the morning's events. There seemed to be no escaping her past today. She looked at her watch and saw it was almost 6 in the evening. She had an appointment with Dean for coffee. The usual place, Mary's cafe. She tried thinking about food. What she would order once she arrived there. But her mind kept coming back to that damn Starbucks and Sam's voice right behind her. There are people who tend to just not see the people who have hurt them. Leona wasn't one of them. For her it was like playing the same record over and over again. Another memory popped in her head, the face of Ruby. The way she looked at her, there was shock in her eyes. Ruby - when had Sam met her, how did they meet? She had no idea. It was as though she had just appeared right next to Sam.   


_She had to get her stuff from Sam. She figured afternoon would be a great time to get those things. He w_ _ouldn_ _'t be around and she had the keys. Leona had taken a deep breath and started her car. Everyone had called_ _,_ _her mom, Mary, Dean and even Ash to ask her how she was holding up. What really got her goat was the way everyone_ _was_ _shocked that she and Sam had such a bad fight. Had they been too lovey dovey a couple that belonged in a hallmark card? Then Mary had said "You two completed each other. He's the quiet one and you're the bubbly one. "_  
_Yeah, she was the bubbly one who had her head in the clouds. That's what Sam had said in one of their marathon fights. She felt that Sam thought she wasn't smart.  That's what hurt her the most that he didn't trust her instinct and her intelligence. She arrived at the apartment building. Pinged for the elevator, every step seemed so heavy. She kept telling herself this was going to be like a bank heist,  'Take your stuff and leave. You need that laptop. And there is a limit to how many clothes you can borrow from your friends'. She reached the door_ _,_ _fetched her keys and opened the door - and saw that Sam was sitting on the couch, wearing boxers and a white t-shirt.  He stood up and said "Hey…. what are you doing here?”  She just looked at him and removed her coat. Doing so, she heard another set of footsteps. She turned around to see_ _R_ _uby standing there, wearing one of Sam's shirt_ _s_ _. Leona looked at her with a raised eyebrow and almost flustered and opened the door again.  "I'm.... I'm sorry_ _,_ _I didn't realize you had company."_ _  
_ _As she was about to step out_ _,_ something snapped in her head and she turned around. She closed the door again and she took a deep breath.

 _“I just need to...." she said motioning towards the bedroom._  
_"I can explain" Sam said._  
_"No no... No. I don't need an explanation" she said, moving towards their - or former ‘their’ - bedroom. Picked up her laptop, pulled out her bag and opened the cupboard. She picked up the clothes, hangers still attached._  
_"Leona_ _,_ _they won't fit like that" Sam said from behind her. She ignored him and continued her abrupt packing. There were a few packets underneath all the clothes. She looked at them and realised these were the gifts she had bought for Sam and his family. She picked up the Packages for Dean and Mary. As she cleared the cupboard she thought - this is it._ _T_ _hen Sam came up from behind her and left another bag next to her. He bent down and opened the last drawer and there were the shoes. She picked the 4 pairs she had got herself. She turned around and saw that small library that she had made for her books. All the trashy detective books, and heavy books of law and human rights. She picked up her cup near the bed and saw lipstick marks on it. She put it back. She strapped on the laptop bag.  She could pull one bag and as she tried getting the other one, Sam snatched it from her hands. He walked ahead of her. She followed him into the elevator. None of them looked at each other. Whenever time is awkward, it travels extra slowly. The long lift ride was over_ _,_ _she walked ahead and opened the car. Sam put the bag inside_ _,_ _looked up at her. His eyes were brimming with tears,_ _his_ _jaw was tightly shut and his nose had become red._

"Hey there, sexy" she looked up to see a bunch of teenagers sniggering at her. On a good day she'd have given them a fitting reply. She ignored them and continued walking. "OH come honey... Come here and give me some sugar" one of the boys broke off from the group and came behind her. Leona picked up her pace; the park in the evening wasn't exactly a great place, especially the south gate side. Leona had completely missed out on which way she had entered the garden.

"Oh come on, don't run" the teenager said, now following her. Leona kept looking back. That was when she bumped into someone ahead of her. 

 


	8. Chapter 8

_Castiel realized that he had just shared something deeply personal with a complete stranger at a bar. He looked up and saw that the stranger's eyes were still on him. The fellow wasn't bad on the eyes with his protruding cheekbones and a welcoming smile. The three glasses of cognac were showing its impact now and Castiel smirked at him. He pushed his hand forward; the stranger took it and said "Hi, my name is Guy."_

_"Hey..... I'm Castiel" he said, trying to show that he was capable of legible speech._

_"Hmmm, unusual name...I haven't seen you here before" Guy inquired curiously._

_"Oh yeah, I just.... Stumbled on this place" Castiel said, looking around the place for the first time. There was 70s nostalgia everywhere_ _,_ _mostly related to cars. "Nice decor," he said, looking at the picture of James Dean sitting inside 'the little bastard'._

_"Gone too soon right?" the stranger said, following Castiel’s eyes._

_"I don't know.... Maybe he left at the right time. You know, just when people wanted more out of him. Left them wanting....so we all kind of remember him more fondly" Castiel said broodingly._

_"Interesting way to look at things” the man observed, still not looking away from Castiel. Suddenly there was a roar of engines from outside of the bar. "That’s my cue to leave," he said, looking in the direction of the noise._

_"And who would that be...your girlfriend?" Castiel said, smirking at the man. The man smiled back._

_"Actually no... It's my friends. We're...getting ready for a race" he said beaming._

_Castiel raised himself from a slouched position. "A race, are you serious?"_

_"Yeah man. We're having one now" he said, standing with his hands on his belt._

_"Oh, I would love to see this" Castiel said, rising from his chair. He stepped out with Guy and came face to face with three cars. The cars were brightly colored and looked like race cars. There were skimpily dressed women and men who were dressed in jeans and leather jackets. Castiel looked around with his mouth open, realizing he was on a drag circuit. Most of the people were looking at him warily. "So, what do you think," Guy asked._

_"Wow...can I drive?" Castiel asked, astonishing himself._

_"Are you serious? You seemed pretty drunk" Guy asked smilingly._

_"Is this a drag race or formula 1?" Castiel said ironically._

_"These cars are expensive you know," Guy said, caressing the hood of the car next to him._

_Castiel removed his gold Rolex watch and gave it to Guy. "Hope this covers it?"_

_"_ _W_ _hy don't you take the blue one.  Suits your eyes" Guy said, batting his eyelashes at Castiel._

 _Castiel looked at the man deeply and smirked at him flirtatiously. "Yes, why not. Wait_ _,_ _what are we betting on?"_

_"Hmm let's see, how about..." Guy said._

_Castiel moved closer to Guy_ _and_ _pulled_ _him_ _close to him. They were close enough to feel each other's breath on their lips._

_" …..each other? If I win, I take you to bed tonight" Castiel said, pushing the man away._

_"Okay, sounds fair," Guy said almost falling back._

_Castiel made his way to the blue car_ _,_ _he felt more awake than ever. The testosterone build up had washed away every trace of alcohol. He got inside the car_ _,_ _a big burly guy poked his head through the window and said "Ok....Guy has totally lost it. So - it works pretty much like a regular car. The blue button on the side of_ _the_ _shift stick pushes the nitro boost. You can use it only once, so use it wisely. The path is marked by green radium arrows. You clear!! "_

 _Castiel only nodded and buzzed the engine to life. From his window, he looked at Guy who was looking in his direction. Their eyes locked and the engines produced deafening roars. A woman flagged the race and both cars zoomed past her. Guy was in the lead_ _,_ _he knew the path very well. Castiel wasn't too far behind,_ _,_ _he gradually increased the speed of his car and began to close the distance. Castiel was reminded of Gabe’s advice: 'maneuver the car'. He realized that they were moving up the hill on a winding road. This wasn't the first race that Castiel had been a part of; Gabe,  Luci and he had modified their father’s car and Castiel had driven it to many victories. All the memories of his teen years came flooding back to his mind. How they had bonded while pimping the car and test driving the Beast. The next chicane approached and_ _he_ _saw his opportunity to take over Guy. He pressed on the accelerator and maneuvered the car very close to his opponent, giving Guy a sudden jerk. He looked at the shocked face of Guy in the rearview.  He needed to maintain this lead now, so he tried to increase the difference among the two. As he spotted a woman in the distance, he knew he was fast approaching the finish line. He saw that Guy was right next to him. He smiled at Castiel and Castiel looked down at the nitro boost button. He pressed it and the car almost zoomed over the finishing line, blowing the skirt of the line girl up high. The car skidded to a stop, but Castiel didn't kill the engine. He saw Guy's car coming in the distance trying to catch up the difference. He saw the car slowing down as it approached the finish line. That's when he stepped on the gas and the zoomed again.  He looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Guy was coming hot on his heels. The Chase continued for another 15 minutes and finally Castiel stopped in front of his house. The other car stood next to him and Guy got out. Before he could say anything to Castiel, he shut him up by walking up to him and kissing him ferociously.  As Castiel finished devouring his face he pushed him back and said "time to claim my prize"_ _,_ _immediately pulling Guy towards his house._

\-------

"Here is the coffee and cake.  Do y'all need anything else?" Becky looked at Dean and then to Leona. She was looking down,  trying to stop her hands from shivering. As Becky left, Dean reached out and caught her hands. .

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now" Dean said, looking at Leona with his piercing green eyes. Leona gathered herself up and looked back at him.

She smiled and said "Thanks."

"Hmm,  I have that, what do you call it, 'Superhero Syndrome?'," he said jokingly.

This is the reason she liked Dean, he could turn anything into something trivial. She took the coffees and had a sip of the warm liquid.

"So you moved to coffee now?" he asked.

Leona closed her eyes and said "Hmmm yeah, ever since I've to be awake and all."

"New case" Dean observed.  Thank God for segways, she thought to herself.

"Oh yeah, in fact, I kinda wanted to talk to you about it," she said, taking the opportunity.

"Oh, and here I was thinking you wanted to just try and hit on me," Dean said, giving her one of his devilishly handsome grins.   

"Hmmm, still hopeful, huh?" she said, taking a breaking bite from the cake with her fork.

"Hell, why not, I'm way better than Sam," Dean said grinning.

And there it was, that three-letter word in the English language that she had stopped uttering for a year now. Dean seemed to have sensed her discomfort. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yes totally, sorry for the whole womanly display of emotion," she said, taking a napkin.

"No please, its ok....well with all the awkwardness out of the way. Tell me about your new case" Dean asked, folding his hands over the table and studying Leona.

"Remember a few months ago,, there was this string of murders of men. Possibly homosexual motive, they arrested this guy" she told him.

Dean nodded, taking a sip from his coffee cup, and said through his cup "Castiel."

She looked up in awe and said "yes... "

"So you think he's innocent?" he asked her quizzically.

"No idea, but I'd like to find out," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Is this some way of getting back at Sam?" he asked mockingly.

"Really Dean,” she said glaring at him “this is more of a favor for a friend."

"So I was thinking of meeting him," she said getting straight to the point.

Dean remembered the bruised face of Castiel Novak. Allowing her to meet him would mean risking another lawsuit.

"So-  can I meet him?" Leona said, snapping Dean back to reality and away from the cerulean eyes.

He looked up and said "Have you gathered any evidence supporting the reopening of the case?"

"We are still gathering whatever the police presented," she said flatly.

"Maybe talking to the officer in charge of the investigation would help" he offered.

"Dean, could you please answer my question," she said pointedly.

He sighed heavily "Ok listen; here is my answer: I cannot offer you a chance to meet the guy. Even if you try the official channels."

"Why the hell not?...is he okay?" she continued to grill Dean.

"He's fine....it's just that I'm in the middle of revamping things at the prison," Dean said, trying not lie.

"Oh, really? What's happening to him, Dean? Should I be worried?" she asked suspiciously.

"Relax, okay. He's fine…It's just" he said trying to think of a reason.

"It’s just that he's in a city full of bigots who aren't comfortable with anything that's different than their definition of 'normal'" she observed sharply.

“You really think that there's a conspiracy here? Hey, why are you so skeptical of this place?" Dean asked leaning towards her from his seat.

"Because my eyes were open when the jury convicted Jerome Jackson just because of the color of his skin" she replied, trying to control the anger in her voice.

"You don't know that," Dean said defensively.

"Dean, he died with two months of being sent to prison. I had told our respected then prosecutor that rather than sending an 18-year-old to an adult prison we could strike a deal with him, try him as a minor and get the names of the gang members and other clientele," she recalled.

Dean stared at her shocked, he wanted to say something, but words escaped him.

"Everyone knows that prison has seen witnessed deaths of persons of inconvenience to the state and society. This city has figured a great way of solving its problems. They just lock their problems into prisons and forget about them" she said, her eyes burning with anger.

"Hmmm, well I'm sure the DA's post was so close that Sam could taste it in his mouth," she said bitterly.

"You think Sammy would.....No, he won't. I mean I know he can be arrogant and self-righteous, but he would never do it" Dean said, trying to hold up Sam’s image.

"Dean....I've thought about this over and over again. This is the only thing that makes sense" she said feebly.

"Maybe he got played" Dean tried, desperately refuting what he was hearing.

"Let’s say he did, but how does that make it any better?" she replied dryly.

Dean was at a loss and he raised his hand, covering his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Dean...it's just that...." she said trying to soothe Dean.

"You know, I always thought the reason you two broke up was either Ruby, or your ego was hurt... You know, professional rivalry" he said.

"Well...I tried to pretend that maybe it was one of those two" she said hopelessly.

"So what happened with you, Handsome?" Leona asked smilingly, trying to change the subject.

"Oh you know, this and that...just never realized when we drifted apart" Dean replied welcoming the change in topic.

"Okay...I know how that feels. I hope it was a little less dramatic." She observed darkly.

"Oh yeah...she came over to basketball practice  and told me that this wasn't working, gave me back the engagement ring." He said with a calm expression as though he was recounting a peaceful memory.

"Wow! Right in front of the guys?" she said putting her teeth together.

"Yeah...but the weird part was that I didn't feel sad or dejected. I actually felt kind of relieved." A smile appeared on his face as he said this.

"Seriously, I always thought she was the IT girl," she said, disbelieving what Dean had just said.

"I know, me too. And you know, ever since then I have felt this incredibly light feeling as though I'm free" he said, looking at her.

"I never realized that you were unhappy in the relationship” she said in bewilderment.

"I wasn't unhappy by any standards, it's just that I wasn't happy either" Dean explained.

"But what about you? How are you holding up?" he said, looking at her with soft eyes.

The moment she had been dreading all evening had arrived. She realized that the one reason she dreaded it was because it was difficult to hide her feelings from Dean. He had always been a friend and confidant.

"Well, I'm trying to cope, but with little success as you can tell," she said weakly.

"I kind of realized that. It's been a year and you still have trouble saying his name. What's amazing is that you're still here?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, I shouldn’t have listened to my mom or yours for that matter. All that crap about not being the one to move and being a fighter" she said sarcastically.

"Hey, don't say that. They're right, you know" he said encouragingly.

"I guess the reason I'm here is that I cannot go back because I have to face the fact that dad's gone. I don’t know which way to go and also don't wanna leave Gabe alone" she said disconcertedly.

"You mean Gabriel Novak, the lawyer? He's such a douche" he said with distaste.

"He’s not, it's just that he's a little quirky. He is a great human being. He's Castiel’s brother, you know" she replied.

"Of course he is," Dean said, not believing his bad luck.

"What does that mean?" She knew that Dean was hiding something.  Dean continued drinking his coffee. Leona figured Dean wasn't going to come with an answer. She prodded him further "Dean, I'm asking this as a friend, not as a lawyer. Please trust me"

"Well, it's a prison and a ruthless one at that. I've been given a hell hole to clean up. The guards seemed to be on some kind of evangelical mission to make sure the prisoners find redemption. Then you have the prison regulars, the gangs, the psychos, and then having prisoners like Cas doesn’t help" Dean explained exasperatedly.

"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled at this information.

"Well, he has 5 counts of disorderly behavior in his name. He's the kind of guy who prefers solitary", Dean replied worn.

"You think something happened?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"Oh please, I think that person might be dead by now. He has this burning anger in his eyes. It's like he doesn't want to be saved. You do something nice for him, he's angry at you. He seems like the quiet and dangerous type.  I never know what he's thinking. I guess that's the reason I asked if you were sure he had not committed those murders", he expounded.

"Well, that's the hunch I'm trying to work out. I'm mostly doing this for Gabriel. He's been there as a friend for me", she said, a nagging feeling now shaping in her head about Castiel too.

"I hope you don’t let that cloud your judgment" Dean said, giving her a fair warning.

 ------

 _Luci sat at the dinner table staring at Anna. She was dressed_ _in a_ _pink dress that fit her body nicely. She always did look pretty_ _;_ _he wondered when she_ _had_ _grown into this beautiful woman with big hazel eyes and red hair. He couldn't help but notice the plunging neckline of her dress that was perfectly framed by locks of her shiny hair on both sides. He noted that she was barely eating and was staring, as though under a spell, at the man next to her. Reverend Luther Gideon, he held some kind of sway with uncle Zack and Anna._

 _"Sometimes one has to go down the path of the unholy to reach holiness. It's the end that  matter_ _s_ _...isn’t that right_ _,_ _officer" he exhorted._

 _His golden eyes turned to look at Luci. "I don't know," he said, looking down. The reverend stretched his hand_ _,_ _reached out to Luci. He pressed his hand and said "Something on your mind, my friend_ _?_ _" Luci pulled his hand away._

_"Luci, apologize now," uncle Zack said sternly._

_"No please_ _,_ _its ok. What’s  the matter?" the reverend asked in his soft mellow voice._

 _"Nothing, I was just thinking of what you said. Sometimes when you go through hell to reach heaven you have seen and done things_ _that_ _haunt_ _you_ _and eat at your soul in heaven", he argued._

_"Hmmm, seems like you have a doubt" Luther observed._

_"Oh nothing, it's just.... Nothing" he said, looking down at his food._

_"I think this year’s anniversary celebrations will be great," Anna said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "The mayor is attending and so many others. The feast will be just perfect"_

_"It's all you. You've worked so hard on it" Luther said, moving his hand from her shoulder to her arms lovingly. Luci saw the look they shared_ _,_ _he went into a jealous rage. He got up and pulled out his service revolver.  He pointed it straight at them and said "How dare you touch her?"_

 _"Luci_ _,_ _what are you doing boy? Put that thing down" uncle Zack said, rising from his seat._

_"You sit down, old man. You will pay too for what you have done. I don't have a family thanks to you. And this guy is taking away the only thing that matters anymore" he said, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. He turned to Anna and said “yes, Anna, you matter to me, you are the only reason why I continue come here or even wake up in the morning. I wake up and look forward to see your face,and I cannot believe this pig has the audacity to look at you like that. You are MINE Anna!”_

_"Luci!!!" Anna got up with a hand on her mouth. She ran straight towards the closed window. She jumped into the darkness breaking the wooden frame along with the glasses. He ran towards the window. As he looked down, he saw hot flames rising from lava. There were people caught screaming and stretching their hands at him.  Amongst the moans of pain and pleas for help, he saw one face that was looking at him. He peered down and saw that it was Castiel looking at him with his blue eyes piercing through his soul. He pulled himself up and closed the curtains. He turned around expecting to see uncle Zack and the reverend. Instead, he was standing face to face with the blood-drenched face of Castiel Novak._

"Novak!!!" it was police Chief Bobby Singer. "Are you alright, boy?" he asked Luci who was drenched in his own sweat,shaking with fear.


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

Dean came to work with a mind riddled with doubts and questions that needed to be answered quickly.

"Morning, sir" Benny greeted him.

"Benny! Just the man I wanted to see. I need files on all the deaths in the prison for the last 5 years" Dean said, looking up.

Benny's demeanor changed from a smile to a frown. "Talk about digging out old skeletons", he said under his breath.

"Also, when does Ellen...I mean, Dr. Harvelle come in? Ask her to meet me as soon as she comes in", Dean said with urgency in his voice.

Benny left Dean who seemed like a man on a mission. Dean had not got over the whole conversation that he had with Leona on Friday night. Then the weekend had come and he had a near brawl with Sam.

 _It was Sunday after church_ _when_ _his mom informed Dean who was busy mowing the lawn."Dean_ _,_ _your brother and Ruby are coming over" she shouted from the living room window. Dean closed his eyes and swore under his breath. A few hours later Sam's Nissan pulled up in front of his house._

_"Now, Dean, be nice to him, ok? And remember he's your brother," she said warning Dean._

_"Hey mom_ _,_ _that goes for you too," he said winking at her._

_His mom opened the door before Sam could knock. His face beamed the moment he saw his mother and hugged her tightly._

_"Hey mom," he said._

_"Hey baby," she said breaking their hug and kissing his forehead._

_"Sammy_ _,_ _where's the girl?" his mom inquired._

_"Ruby is gone to her father's place" he replied._

_"Okay," she said relieved. Sam hugged Dean and sat down at the table._

_"Dean,_ _turn_ _the chair around and sit straight," she said pointedly and went inside the kitchen to get the food._

_"Hey Dean, what's happening man?"_

_"Hmm nothing," Dean said distractedly._

_"How's prison?" Sam asked laughing at his own joke._

_Dean smiled at this too "well_ _,_ _nothing much. It's a mess_ _,_ _I tell you, Sammy. It's a hell hole to say the least"_

_"That bad huh" Sam said sympathetically._

_Dean nodded and asked "what's happening with you_ _,_ _how is it being a DA and New missus"_

_"Well, we aren't exactly married and as far as the DA's office is concerned, things are just peachy. I heard the dept. of Prisons is happy with you. Seems you're really cleaning the place"_

_"Well yeah, one of the officers almost killed one of the inmates" Dean replied._

_Dean was trying to hold back the one question that had been nagging in the back of his mind. Had his brother deliberately sent Jerome to his death?_

_Their mom entered with the food._

_"Smells nice," Sam commented._

_"Soup!! I really hope there is some manly food here too" Dean retorted. His mom and Sam both glared at him. The lunch went on very quietly with everyone savoring their food._

_"Mom, what's that flavor that you get at the end of the soup" Sam inquired._

_"Honey_ _,_ _that's paprika, it gives you that depth," Mary said glowing._

 _"Yes, a nice trick_ _,_ _where did you pick that up," Sam asked taking the last spoonful from the soup._

_"Oh, I learned it from Leo..." Mary bit her tongue. Sam looked up and saw that Dean was looking at him too._

_"What?! Oh, come on guys. Y'all are allowed to talk about her" Sam said casually smiling._

_"Really," Dean asked disbelieving Sam._

_"Well heck yeah. In fact, I bumped into her_ _the_ _day before yesterday at the coffee shop. She was buying her regular chai Tea latte thing. Would it kill her to buy real coffee?" he said digging into his soup again. Mary resumed her eating again while Dean looked at him. He wondered_ _why_ _there was such a stark difference between how they both reacted to each other’s names. Sam showed nothing on his face while Leona's face had contorted into so many different emotions and then finally settled on anger._

 _Dean remembered that feeling of utter desperation he had felt when he wanted to tell her that whatever she said was not true. He cleared his throat and said "Speaking of Leona_ _,_ _I met her last Friday."_

_"Really," Sam said moving in his chair._

_"Yeah, she told me about Jerome." Sam stopped eating and looked up. "she just let me know that he could have been saved, you know" Dean continued ignoring Sam’s throat clearing._

_"well, it’s a gangland thing, if not in the prison, he could have been done in somewhere outside" he tried sounding casual._

_"Was that the reason you refused her offer_ _?_ _" Dean inquired pointedly._

 _"See_ _,_ _the thing with Leona is that she gets involved with her clients," Sam replied nonchalantly._

_"Unlike you, you were too focused on what you got out of sending a minor to prison" Dean retorted back._

_"Dean_ _,_ _you have got to stop listening to her._ _S_ _he just could not handle the fact that she lost the case to me" Sam replied trying to sound calm._

 _"Sam_ _,_ _she came to you to broker a deal for a kid who was a mere hustler. You could have easily said yes. But you did not and I want to know why?" Dean still continued despite Sam’s apparent discomfort._

_"Oh great, you want me to explain myself to you cos of what she said?" Sam’s said in that high-pitched voice that he used when he was annoyed. "Unbelievable, are you listening to this?" Sam said looking at Mary._

_"Don’t get mom into this!" Dean shouted._

_"I did what I thought was the right thing to do_ _,_ _Dean. That is it, she likes to think there is a greater mystery to this but sorry to disappoint you pal_ _,_ _there is none. I was shocked too okay when he was found dead in his cell. I didn’t know that it would be so bad. but there was nothing ...NOTHING I could do" Sam said almost choking back on his anger._

_"Dean!!! That’s enough, okay. Both of you sit down now" Mary finally spoke up._

"Here are the files you had asked for," Benny said putting them in front of Dean. He looked up at him and Benny explained "Sir, there have been 6 suicides in the last 8 months alone, if I may ask sir, why the sudden interest?"

"Well, let’s just say I’m curious" Benny did not say anything and closed the door behind him.

As Dean skimmed through the files he saw the name he had been looking for, Jerome Jackson. He was 18 when he was found dead, hung in his own cell. The same was true in many other cases though what caught Dean's attention was that the men were beaten and sustained injuries before they killed themselves. Ellen had not bowed down to pressure, she seemed to have recorded everything in her autopsy. What puzzled Dean was who was behind these deaths?  Was it a one person meting out this so called justice or was it a gang? He pressed a button on his intercom and asked for Ellen.

Ellen came in and said dryly “You asked for me"

Dean placed the files in front of her. She looked at him puzzled.

"I wanna know about this fella here. What happened?"

"Wrong place wrong time," she looked at Dean who stared back confused. She rolled her eyes and said "see , I clearly mentioned here that he didn't die because of hanging. He had too many serious injuries from beating to even stand up. As you can see they clearly overlooked these." She replied looking at the futility of her report.

"Was this a common recurrence here?" Dean asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, the prison does house a lot of the people from opposite gangs and plus there are prison gangs here too," She explained.

"But then it's clear that the authorities tried to cover the whole thing up. That means someone was profiting from this whole business here." Dean reasoned.

"Well, you're asking the wrong person then. You need to talk to Benny." She replied.

"Of course, hey, one more thing that's bugging me. I considered the gang angle, turns out people from both the gangs were being killed, in fact there was this guy, Weems, he was in for financial fraud, who was killed too. I mean, if it was gang killing , then why kill this white collar guy?" Dean speculated.

"Hmmm interesting, so are you suggesting a this isn't gang violence?" "Maybe... I mean it could be that there's someone who's doing this for money?” Dean conjectured.

"hmm not farfetched you know, I'll keep an eye out," she said taking her leave.

Dean looked out to see Castiel was sitting on one of the benches with his eyes closed.

 --------

It was a rare and unusually quiet day at the prison compound. Castiel quietly sat at the bench soaking the sun. They had been let out after days of rainy weather. Everyone was pretty much doing what they were supposed to be doing. The guards kept their watchful eyes on everyone. The skinheads sat in their corner, the black kings had their own area and the Surenos stayed in their territory. The central court was taken over by army vets. It was funny to see how many people who had served the country had later ended up in the prison system.  Castiel looked around the yard and figured that he didn't belong anywhere or nobody wanted him to join them. After what had happened to Gordon and Yellow Eyes everyone had kept their distance from him.

If you looked closely one could see that each group member was communicating to the other with touching off the forehead, scratching of the hand or just making a gesture. Castiel sitting on his bench observed all this. They were planning on some sort of entertainment. Prison entertainment always involved either fighting or some kind of religious gathering.  You had to spend all that time alone by yourself, so you had to kill time somehow. They couldn't really spend time with themselves cause the memories of their past lives or worries of those who lived beyond these walls were always eating at them. There was always a sense of unease in a prison which very often found its expression in violence. Most prisons tried to lift this sense of unease in order to maintain the peace.  This particular prison actually preferred to keep this sense of unease, that way the prison guards could keep things in check. They made sure that even though there were gangs everyone could sell out to prison guards. Since the priest wasn't coming in till the next 2 days, it had to be a fight. The skinheads were deep in conversation and some of them were pointing to the Surenos. One of the skinheads went over to one of the young members of the Hispanics, Ramone, and pushed him down. And thus broke out prison riot number.. _. Who's keeping a tab on these?_ Castiel mused to himself. One of the Hispanics punched the black guerrilla member hard across his face. The blood splattered from his mouth onto Castiel’s hands. He looked at it and thought of another eventful night.

_Guy had asked him to come over to his place. Castiel had learned that Guy was a biologist who was working on stem-cell research and was the CEO for InGen. As Castiel rode his car up the winding road on top of a hill on the outskirts of the city, he was amazed to see a house that was made of glass and wood. The living room was entirely made of glass. Before even Castiel rang the bell he saw Guy walk up to the door open the door"welcome to my humble abode"_

_"If this is humble I'm probably a peasant" Castiel quirked._

_Guy smiled at this and stepped aside for Castiel to come in. He looked around in awe to see a completely glass paned walls which overlooked the city below. The stairs were right in the middle of the room that led to two bedrooms upstairs._

_"This house is so much like you. You never fail to surprise me Guy. Right from making me believe that you were just drag race driver and then turned out to be CEO of biotechnology firm," Castiel complimented him._

_"I'm glad about that I still can do that after 3 months together. But don't sell yourself short" Guy replied._

_Castiel smiled and turned to face him. He closed the distance between them and kissed Guy. At first Guy tried to say something but then as Castiel's tongue grazed the top of the inside of his mouth, he completely lost all sense of control. He pulled Castiel closer who by now had begun opening guy's shirt. He pulled out his tucked in shirt. As they pulled away from each other to catch some breath, Guy said, "forget about the dinner" and he pushed Castiel towards the bedroom. Castiel was finally pushed on to the bed and he looked up to see a roof made of glass that showed the starry night. His vision was blocked by Guy towering over him. Castiel bit his lip and began to slowly move and removing his own shirt seductively. "Oh God Castiel_ _,_ _you're beautiful," he said fixing him with a predatory grin. As Castiel opened his shirt, his vision began to grow blurry. He blinked a little. He heard Guy ask him "babe_ _,_ _you okay_ _?_ _"_

_"hmm no...I can't see you clearly" Castiel said blinking and trying to clear his vision._

_"I'll get you something_ _,_ _meanwhile you sit up"_

_As Guy left from above him, Castiel saw that in blurry vision that the sunroof was open now._

_"Hey, who are you?" Castiel heard Guy speak to someone. He tried to push himself up and caught a blurred vision of Guy falling onto the carpeted floor. He looked down on Guy's lifeless form and his blurred vision was now spinning. Before he fell back he saw a pair of Ugg boots._

"Get down!!! " Dean yelled out to Castiel.

Dean had come rushing out into the courtyard when Benny who was in his office said "what in God's name is happening?”

They both ran out and saw that guards were desperately trying to open the gate which was bolted shut with a rod from the other side.  Dean realized that someone had to go onto the other side to open it. "Give me your jacket" he barked at one of the guards. The guard gave it to him and Dean hurled it up on the barbed wire. He climbed up the over the fence to the other side. As he climbed down he fell to his knees. He saw that Castiel was sitting there amidst the chaos lost in his own world. He saw a figure coming up behind him and was about to stab Castiel with a broken rod from a chair in his hand.

As Castiel ducked down and he caught the rod mid-air and pulled the man ahead. The guy was pulled forward and when Castiel released it, the guy fell back.

He now looked at Dean who was now being separated from the gates. The group of men now began to surround him. Castiel knew what was about to happen. In the distance, Cain, who was the only other fellow sitting quietly, got up from his seat. He walked through the chaos as though it was a walk in the park. Cas sprinted towards where Dean lay on the floor. He kicked a guy who fell back on towards Cain, blocking his way. Another inmate placed a hand on his shoulder, he caught his arm and twisted it. As the guy fell on the concrete floor, the others backed out a little. He gave Dean his hand, pulled him up and he went to the gate. Meanwhile, Castiel looked straight towards Cain who merely smirked at him. The guards rushed in and caught Castiel and pulled him to the ground.

\-----

"Meeting in 5" Jo poked her head through his door. Sam merely nodded distractedly. ‘Must be that officer...’ Sam thought, closing the file in front of him. He pressed his hands on his eyes and looked at the nameplate. Sam Winchester, District Attorney. He touched the plate gently. Something clicked inside him and he opened the top drawer that he always kept locked. He pulled out an ornate medieval looking ring. There was an amethyst on that ring. He tried it on and wondered who the hell gives a ring like this to anyone as a wedding ring. Well, he knew who had given this one, Leona Hornstaff. But then no point blaming her, he had checked out that ring in a store window in front of her.

 _Sam had never experienced such butterflies in his stomach ever. He had cleared the interview, but he hadn't told Leona about it, one of Dean_ _´s_ _stupid ideas for pranks. He had made him sound forlorn on the phone. He had hung up on her mid call. By the time he reached her place, it was 10.30.pm All the windows were dark except two; one on the ground floor and one in the attic. Why did she have to live with her parents? 'cheap housing' she had reasoned. Sam looked at the wall of creepers that led up to the first floor. Dean had theorized that the creepers would lead him to the first floor then he should walk towards the first-floor bedroom window (her parents and his bosses). Climb up from that to Leona's window. Easy peasy he had said, for whom_ _,_ _Lara_ _C_ _roft_ _?_ _Sam wondered sarcastically. He made a mental note never to take ideas from Dean.  As he reached her window he knocked on it. Leona who was watching that show on her laptop looked up startled. She turned to look at the window slowly. Why did she have to see a horror series knowing she would get so scared? She opened her mouth to scream but saw Sam's face asking her to quiet down. She came to the window and opened it. She hauled the tall lanky form of Sam inside. "What are you doing here? When did you come back? Why didn't you tell me you were coming back? Why.... Hmmmm"_

 _Sam kissed her to stop talking. Sam had missed her, the familiar warmth of her mouth felt comforting. As they broke the kiss for breathing she said "_ _W_ _ow_ _,_ _no answers required" she said pulling him back. Sam stopped her. "_ _W_ _ait_ _,_ _I have to tell you something."_

_She looked at him puzzled._

_"I got the job...." he looked at her. She sat down on the bed. Sam saw the emotions change from joy to sadness and then joy again. As Sam knelt in front of her she hugged him. "I'm so happy for you. I always knew that you would get it."_

_Sam could note the hint of despair in her voice. She pulled him away "_ _B_ _ut why didn't you say this to me on the phone?"_

_"Stupid joke." He saw her roll her eyes._

_"Well, there's something else I wanted to ask you. You've become an inseparable part of my life. I just can't imagine my future without you in it" he said looking down. Leona still looked confused. Then as though something hit her she pushed herself back on her bed. "Oooh before I forget_ _,_ _wait_ _,_ _I got you something". Sam looked at her exasperatedly. Here he was pouring his heart out and this girl was fidgeting with her bedside table. She pulled out a small box. Sam looked incredulously at her. She opened the box and presented the very ring he was looking at the other day._

_"Yes!! Yes oh God, I never thought you..."Sam said blushing; now it was Leona's turn to look confused._

_"What....are you talking about?" she asked._

_"Oh sorry, I thought..." Sam looked flustered. Leona looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Well, as long as we are giving gifts," he pulled out his box and opened it. He simultaneously got down on one knee. "This is mine," he said blushing furiously. She saw that_ _the_ _ring was a single teardrop diamond._

_"Sam.... " Leona was at a loss of words probably the first time._

_"Please make me the happiest man ever," he said looking at her._

_"Are you sure?" she asked disbelievingly._

_"Come on_ _,_ _my knee hurts," Sam said._

 _"Oh... Yes...Yes, yes" as though something snapped in her that she almost jumped on him. She kissed him furiously, and he kissed her back. They eagerly tore_ _each_ _others clothes off. They heard steps coming up outside her door._

 _"Honey_ _,_ _is everything ok?" her mom called out. Leona looked at Sam and he slipped his hand under her t-shirt. She hitched her breath "Nothing, mom!"_

_"I hope not. You tell Sam to keep it low. I have an early start" they both blushed. "And yes, I wanna know what happened" she said as she went back to her room._

  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

_What was it with rain and the city?_ Leona wondered to herself. She was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that she had a long sleepless night first thinking about Sam (the usual) and then about Castiel. It seemed very curious,  the way the man had killed 4 people and had left an array of evidence behind for him to get caught. Why had the police caught him after 5 and not before? She realised her outstretched hand was now aching. _Perfect, just perfect,_ she thought, _just when I'm running late, it is raining and there is no cab in sight_. Just then, as an answer to her prayers, she saw a cab slowing down close to her. The rain was dripping hard and she could barely make out the driver. She opened the door and saw that there was already a lady sitting inside.

"Oh hi, come on inside." She invited her inside.

Leona raised her eyebrow at the nice yet strange lady. "Ummm no, thanks," she said, pulling her head out.

"Oh please, I don't think you'll find another cab here in this weather," said the lady persistently. Leona thought about her situation, she was running late and needed to be in the office to see Gabriel. She got inside and looked at the strange woman next to her. She had an ornate hat and coat pulled over her expensive looking white silk frock with flower prints on it. She wore a string of pearls on her lovely delicate neck.

"So where are ya heading?" She asked in her southern drawl and Leona realised that she had been staring at the lady for some time "Oh, 42nd Street."

"Oh great, I'm going to be passing through it towards the 50th Street," she said smiling to her. _50th street hmm, of course,_ that's where the rich women went to get their Gucci's' and Prada's. "Thanks, that's very nice of you” Leona said, adjusting herself in her seat.

"Oh please, I'm sure you would have done the same thing for me" she said, smiling at her.

_No,_ thought Leona, but said "Yes, of course." 

"So are you heading to work?" she asked.

Leona figured she was sharing a cab with chatty Cathy. "Yes, and you?" She asked knowing the answer.

"Oh, I just figured to get a few things before I leave for a vacation in Europe" she said, adjusting herself.

"Oh, how nice" Leona gave her a fake smile.

"Where do you work?" she went on with her inquiry of Leona.

"At a law firm" Leona said taking out her phone and looking into it hoping that the lady would put an end to this conversation.

All of Leona’s efforts were dashed when she asked yet another question, "Are you a lawyer?"

"Well...I was, but now I just help out in investigations" she said, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Oh, investigation... Like a detective?" the lady continued, oblivious to Leona’s discomfort.

"Hmmm yeah, you can say that” Leona replied halfheartedly.

"So what kind of cases do you look at?" she was looking at her earnestly.

"Ummm mainly criminal cases" said Leona off-handedly.

"Oh really, how exciting? You know, my husband was murdered" she replied effortlessly, as though she was speaking about someone else’s husband.

Leona looked up at her surprised, curious about the  lady sitting next to her. "I'm so sorry to hear that" she said, not knowing what to say after that revelation.

"Oh,  I thought you would recognize me...it was quite the talk in the papers" she continued blatantly.

Leona really looked at the blonde sitting next to her. Her face did seem familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "I'm the wife of Benjamin Thorne" she said, introducing herself.

Leona looked at the smiling blonde, stunned,. "Wow, I do...OMG, I just thought of speaking to you about it!"

"Really, what for?" she asked looking at her inquisitively.

"Umm my firm is thinking of opening the case again" Leona replied.

The woman went quiet for a while and Leona thought her opportunity was lost. Just then she caught her arm and said "I knew this day would come."

She sounded very dark and worried; the smile on her face was gone. Seeing as the woman wasn't coming forth with any more information, she said: "Why did you think that?"

"Cause things didn't feel right, I know what he really was but I had made my peace with it. But he was real good at his job. My Daddy did not take the news of our divorce very nicely and had threatened him. So there was that but also, there was the matter of that interview he was doing with that musician..."

"Who?" Leona prodded her further.

"Well that....oh dear lord I don't remember his name but he died a few days later too. Come to think of it, it was his death that made me think about it. Not to mention that agent of his came over, asking if I had the transcripts of the interview" she said, musing over that day.

Leona couldn't believe her good luck today. She was here in this cab, probably catching the first break since she took over this case, a new angle. It could link the two murders of John Brady and Benjamin Thorne. She looked at the woman and asked, "So did you give the transcripts over?" Leona inquired restlessly.

"Oh no dear, I might be blonde but not an idiot. Told him I knew nothing of it. He knew I meant it and left me alone" she explained herself.

Leona wondered how much of this was true; there was only one way to find out,  get her hands on the transcripts in question. "Here is my card, and if it's not too much, can I ask you for the transcripts for this interview....you know, just to listen or read it."

"Oh thank you, yes you can. It's like a burden off my chest..." With that, the taxi stopped and the lady said "Oh, seems like your stop is here. My name is Belle, by the way, and let’s meet soon." “My name is Leona and here is my card so I can call you”Leona had so many questions, but somewhere the lady had made it clear from her tone that her good luck had come to an end.

\---------

"Dean, wake up, dear," his mom said. He opened his eyes and saw his mom in a short black dress with her hair tied in a bun. "Wake up, sleepy head, we need to go for the ball," she said fitting her earrings. Yes, right, the ball that the prison coordinator Mr. Styne and Sam had invited him to. _Was this supposed to be a reward or a punishment for doing his job?_ he thought, smiling to himself. Dean got up and saw his mother frowning at himself. "Why couldn't you wear a tux? Sammy said it was a black tie event." She was now dusting his black suit with a green tie. "I'm telling you if you weren't handsome you would have looked like such a mess."

Dean blushed a little “Ma, please let's go, okay.”

"Fine, I won't touch you Mr... Aren't you flattening your hair or something" she said looking at him. Dean just glared and she merely threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. They went inside his car and Dean was about to put on his music when his mom stopped his hand and said "Please hun, let's drive in peace so we can talk."

Dean rolled his eyes, but then her phone rang, saving Dean from another awkward conversation on how he needed someone in his life. As his mom was talking on the phone, Dean's mind went to the events of the morning when he was almost ambushed by his prisoners. However, that wasn't gonna happen on Castiel's watch. He had stopped Cain, who Benny later informed was a rather sinister candidate and was possibly the leader of the infamous prison gang Soldiers of God. When the gate had opened, the guards had caught Cas and made sure that he stayed on the floor. He came over and told the guards to take him inside. As he looked around, he saw Cain was sitting at a table and looking at him with menacing eyes. As their eyes met, he grinned at Dean, making him shiver a little. As the crowds dispersed, Cain got up and left; meanwhile, Dean stood there thinking about why his guards had attacked Cas and not the others who were standing around him. He entered his office and saw Officer Davis gripping Castiel's face. "You animals, why did you do it?"

"Davis that's enough, you can leave now" Dean said hotly; Davis left, glaring at Cas. Dean closed the door behind him and looked at Castiel who was sitting in the corner on a chair. "Are you okay?" He merely stared at Dean.

"I saw what you did there....thank you" Castiel looked up and stared deeply into Dean's eyes. He felt a deep blush creep up his cheeks and felt his heart skip a beat  which was confusing, and yet it made him feel warm inside. He cleared his throat and said "You saved my life ...you can ask for a reward." He began to get up from his crouched position just when Cas caught the lapels of his light blue shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. He crashed his chappy, dry lips against Dean's plump, soft ones. He did not realize when all of this happened, but felt Castiel's beard graze his smooth skin. He felt the warmth of Castiel's mouth as he opened his mouth to let him in and Castiel grazed his tongue over his. Dean knew that this was another level of messed up for Castiel Novak, but it just felt right to him . It felt like somehow Dean had wanted this, to be wanted like this where Castiel was holding on to him as though his life depended on it.

\-------

Sam looked around the party; he saw a number of well-known people from arts, government and law enforcement. Currently, many of them were coming in and speaking to his father-in-law and the mayor of the city who was standing next to Sam. He was simply perfect, nodding his head and passing that witty remark where it was required. In the midst of all this, his eyes were searching for someone, but he didn't know who. Just then reverend Luther Gideon stepped up to his father-in-law; behind him was Officer Lucien Novak. Sam smiled at him, but he merely gave him a casual nod. He knew Officer Novak; he was a celebrated cop who had solved the serial killer case. How could he forget him, that case had pretty much locked his chances for the position of District Attorney. The detective had been promoted to chief detective in his department too, but he never was the same. When he had gone to congratulate him on their win he had smiled drily and said "Yes...win" and walked off. But that's how anyone would feel if you had convicted your own brother for four murders. "So what do you think, Mr. Winchester?"

"I’m sorry" he saw his father in law and the reverend and Mr. Zachariah looking at him.

"The case of robbery by that boy inside the church" his father-in-law Jack Kendall replied to him. _Oh yes, the case where this LeBron Walker was being convicted for armed robbery in a church,_ Sam reminded himself. As Sam was about to speak, he felt a familiar pull at his heart. He cleared his throat. “Well, we have to look at the entire evidence before we can speak” he replied graciously.

"Oh come now, you're among friends, what other evidence do you need. He was there standing outside just minutes before the robbery took place. Not to forget the man of his particular persuasion doesn't really need a reason...." Mr. Zachariah piped in.

Something snapped inside Sam's head and he said " Oh yes, cause he's black he must have done it. Cause none of the white boys who were inside could have done that" he said irritatedly. When Sam stopped talking, he was staring into the shocked faces of the three men. Lucien whom he had never seen smile once since he had met him, was now smiling into his whiskey. "Uhm...I just need to get some fresh air” Sam said disconcertedly and left them abruptly.

He rushed down towards the restrooms. He splashed some cold water onhis face; he could hear Leona in his head. _'Sam, don't you think the prosecution is being a little too tough on the guy' she said weaving her hands through his hair as he lay there on the couch in her lap. 'Well, the state has decided zero tolerance towards drugs' he said with his eyes closed._

_'But I know from good authority that you might get more out of the guy rather than making an example of him. You know he would really benefit from a better consul' Sam snapped his eyes open. He looked at her directly and saw that mischievous smile ghosting her face. 'Leona, what have you done? Please tell me it’s not what I think it is' she raised her hands in mock surrender. 'Why Leona, I told you to stay away from it?' Sam said arduously._

_'I was...' Sam got up from her lap and put a hand through his hair, looking away as though he knew what she was going to say. 'But his mother was really desperate and I meet her every day on the bus on my way to work. She is a driver for a public bus service here' she clarified herself._

_'See, that's the reason I told you to take the car. No, you know what....I say no' he said heatedly._

_'You cannot order me around' she replied calmly._

_'No Leona, it's not and order....its just that I know when it comes to kids you lose all rationality. This could be disastrous' he said with concern shading his voice sitting upright. She gently put her hand through his hair. She knew what to do when he was agitated. Her hand moved from his hair to his face and Sam couldn't help but lean into the touch.  She moved closer to him and put her arms and legs around him. She whispered in his ear 'oh come on, she needs help and I need to get back in the game. I hate civil cases and...' She said pulling herself into Sam's lap 'imagine all the makeup sex we will get to have cause all the fighting part will be done in the court' she suggested in her husky voice._

He opened his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror but he was more lost in trying to recreate the sensation of her soft mocha skin on his hands and that peculiar smell of roses that she had and her perfect lips capturing his own into a warm kiss. He sighed heavily with the uneasy feeling that maybe he could get through the party without shooting off from his mouth.

As he stepped out, he dashed against someone and she almost fell down. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he caught her half way. As he held her, a familiar scent of roses hit his olfactory senses. He opened his eyes to look down at the familiar face of Leona Hornstaff staring at him. She looked at him at first with confusion which then changed to recognition and finally settled on anger. Sam unknowingly pulled her closer while her two hands were deciding whether to push him away or pull him closer.

\------

Dean walked into the party and straight to the bar. He looked around for his mom and then turned to the bartender. Instead, he saw a taller fellow was blocking his way to the bar. "Excuse me" the man turned around and he saw a pair of brilliant blue eyes that reminded him of another set of deep blue eyes. The man stepped away and smiled at Dean. Apart from blue eyes, he had blonde hair, a sharp nose and thin lips. He seemed oddly familiar to Dean, he could not place him. “Here you go, Detective Novak", that name sparked the recognition in Dean's mind.

He extended his hand and said “oh you're Lucien Novak, I'm Dean Winchester" he took his hand suspiciously. Just then the prison coordinator Mr. Wentworth Styne found Dean and slapped on his back "Detective Novak, seems like you have met Dean. He is the one handling the federal correctional facility. You remember that place" Dean saw Lucien tightening his grip on the glass of scotch. "Yes, of course, how can I forget the hell hole? Does he know they hang dead people there?" He asked calmly with a tinge of bitterness towards the end. Mr. Styne seemed to have got it and he simply walked off. Dean turned around to look at the detective "Excuse me?" he inquired.

Lucien had gone back to his drink "What, it's an open secret? Didn't you get the orientation?" He smiled aridly into his drink. Dean decided to pursue the topic further and said, "Like a gangland hit?"

"Well, let's just say it's not just the gangs that settle their scores, but also the state....find out about Weems?"

"He was in for financial fraud and possession of narcotics?"

"Oh so you know, well let's just say that his fraud didn't just involve poor public servants who were completely unaware of what he was doing. They knew, but they decided to turn a blind eye. He decided to come clean to get a leaner sentence from the FBI. Before he could speak, he was strangled with his own shoe lace."

"How do you know all this?"

"When you have stayed on the force as long as I have, you get to know stuff. The guy committed financial fraud, but we caught him on possession of drugs so that he could come into the big house", Lucien expounded.

"Who do you think did it?” Lucien gave him a long hard look and gave him a malicious smile. “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin" he said, quoting the Bible.

Dean still looked at him resolutely, and Lucien said "Well, let's just say that they are a bunch of vagrants and wanderers but they pretend to be their brother's keepers" He was cut short when a red-haired woman came up to him and said "There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" Dean could see the expression change on his face to that of relief. As he was being led away, Dean thought about the deaths that had occurred in the prison and he could see a pattern. Just before the deaths, there had been prison riots, in fact, the riots and injuries from those riots had been cited as a reason for depression and subsequent suicides by the state coroner. As the pieces fell into place, a dreadful  realisation hit him, and he thought that maybe there was soon going to be another hit in his prison.

\-----

Leona snapped out from the spell of Sam Winchester when she heard a pair of heels coming towards them. She pushed so that he could stop the staring match and let her go. She got up and looked down her dress and suddenly the owner of the heels whose sound they had heard appeared next to Sam. It was Ruby, _just my luck,_ thought Leona. She was almost scowling at her and she weaved her hand into Sam’s arm who was still staring at Leona as though she was a ghost. Ruby caught his face, moved it towards her and kissed him passionately, snapping him out of a trance. He leaned into it and Leona told herself, _move dammit_. She turned on her heels, left the restrooms and reached the bar. "One tequila!" Just then she heard someone call out her name. "Leona, honey!" She closed her eyes, knowing only too well who it was.

"Hi Mary....and Dean," she said, smiling at her, and looked doubtfully at Dean. He just gave a master eye roll and said "Don't ask."

"Ma'am, your tequila shot is here!” Leona closed her eyes, hoping that Mary didn't hear it.

"Oh, honey, I need one too. These parties are just so…" she said, as she saw Ruby and Sam smiling at them, "…Annoying!"

"Oh God, I cannot take another encounter with these guys," Leona said, turning around and swallowing the spirit in one shot. She closed her eyes bitterly as the warm liquid traveled through her system and she heard Sam saying "Hey mom, so glad you could make it here. And you managed to get Dean too" he said with a hint of sarcasm. She suddenly felt an arm around her which turned her to face both Ruby and Sam. He, as usual, looked awed for some strange reason, and the fake smile vanished from Ruby's face. "Oh yes, Sammy, I did, and guess who's my date? I hope you don't mind!"

"What," both her and Sam said in unison. Dean looked at her and smiled at her in a sinister way. She got the message and wove her hand into his. "Oh, of course he does not mind!”

"Of course not," Sam said, as just then Ruby stepped on his shoe. "Enjoy yourselves, guys," she said and pulled him away.

All three looked at each other and Leona said, "Well, that was fun!", looking at her ex-husband and his future wife walking away.

"Fun? It was hilarious," Mary said. They all shared a good laugh and Dean got more drinks for the ladies. Leona looked at her watch to see that it was almost 10:30pm.  She couldn't  take any more of this action packed party and she missed her Netflix. As  she was about to walk out, the world around began to spin. Dean came to catch her. "Hey, you okay?"

"Guess not, but I have to go home. I have some important TV-related work" she explained in almost slurred speech.

"Really?" He asked not believing what he's hearing.

"Yes, this amount of socialisation will last me for the next six months" she said, looking behind them.

"Figures," he said, looking around, "I think the reason for this has less to do with people and more to do with the Sasquatch sighting" he winked at her.

It was her turn to do an eye roll, "I just need to get in a cab."

"How about I give you a lift home? It seems like mom is engaged in some deep conversation with Sam. I need a break too, also I can drop you and come back" he said, smiling at her.

"I really don't need this...." she tried fruitlessly to sound sober.

"Oh come on," he said, insisting. _It seems like he needs a little breather too_ Leona  thought.. She allowed him to pull her away to his car. As they were leaving, she saw  Sam looking at them with a frown on his face. As they reached outside and then quickly got inside the car, Leona said "Sam is so not happy."

"Relax, he always has a bitchface on. Anyways, do you know anything about Jerome Jackson’s death? Like anything he might have said about a brother’s keeper?"

“Cain….he was…the brother´s keeper…Dean…read your bible, man” Leona says just before passing out.

Cain…. Now he had a name to go on….Dean now had time to think again and his mind went back to his thoughts on what he had learned from detective Novak. He remembered the reports on the deaths of Jackson and Edward Weems. They had struck him as suspicious, that both wanted to speak to the federal authorities, both were harassed by both inmates and guards (under the disciplinary action) and finally, the Prison riots - both were injured in prison riots one day before their deaths. Just then his phone rang and he saw it was Benny. "Benny, is everything okay?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing" he replied sounding panicked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leona heard Dean say confusedly.

"That's weird, cause Lenny told me that you were in an accident and were at St. Joseph's" Leona was listening now to the conversation as she hear Benny's voice too.

"What!?..." In that instant Dean knew what was happening. Without losing a moment he said 'Benny, go back now. I think it's a trap, I want you to go and look at surveillance cameras!” now she was completely awake. 

She sawDean press the gas pedal  to the floor.


	11. Chapter 11

Castiel looked up at the ceiling where the light from the bulb was shining brightly. Just then the guards called out, "Lights out!" and he closed his eyes. As the bulb closed down, he opened his eyes and began to wonder. This was the worst time of the day, people thought that showers were the worst time in prison, but this was the time that even the toughest criminals feared.  The time when the lights went out and you were alone in your bunk, thinking about your life. That was the time their crimes came to haunt them, that was the time that their worries about their loved ones came to them and that was the time when their future haunted them.  He looked at the shadow of the bars that fell on the floor, caused by the lights from the corridor. Many men cried themselves to sleep, some just couldn't sleep, some tried to find a way out and some sought refuge in angry sex with fellow inmates. Castiel wouldn't mind doing the latter one, however thanks to his reputation he was given the whole cell to himself. Alas, he was left alone with his thoughts, which were unclear to say the least. Events that he had no memory of, something conveniently labeled as being ‘brushed off’, a tactic which was often used by psychotic killers. 

He closed his eyes and saw the face of Josh Parker, his neighbour William Parker's son. He was young, naive and curious. 

_ Castiel had first encountered him in the lobby of their building where he was collecting his mail, just when it was knocked off his hands with a football. He got down to pick up his mail when another hand appeared to pick it up. Castiel looked up to see a young fellow with a long forehead, chiseled features and amber eyes. His hairdo seemed like it was straight out of a 50s movie. Their eyes met and the boy smiled at Castiel; he noticed the boy looked down immediately to hide a creeping blush.  _

_ The boy cleared his throat and said "I'm so so sorry, it's my stupid friends...." He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Castiel was looking at him intently.  _

__ "Oh, that's fine...." Castiel tried to put the boy at ease.    
"Josh...Josh Parker, I'm your neighbour... You know my dad, William Parker" the boy replied nervously under Castiel’s intense scrutiny.    
Castiel nodded his head slowly in recognition and said "Oh yes, I do know him."   
They got inside the elevator and Castiel was standing ahead while Josh lingered behind. He realised that Josh's eyes were boring into his back. As the elevator stopped, he quickly got out and turned to smile at Josh. He was still in the elevator with a raised hand. Castiel smiled at this and said "Josh, this is your floor too."    
"Oh yes...dammit" he said, rushing out. He zoomed past Castiel and turned left at the end of the corridor.    
Castiel opened the door smiling to himself; he set the bunch of letters down on the table by the door. He saw an unmarked letter peeking through the bunch. Castiel pulled it out and saw that it wasn't a letter but instead was a paper, neatly folded. He knew this wasn't in the mail when he had collected his mail. 'To the blue eyed angel' it read, he opened the paper and saw a sketch of himself sitting at the window. Castiel was shocked and awed by the work, with its intricate details and how the artist had managed to capture every wrinkle, every eyelash and every contour of his face and body. “From your admirer of the north window”, it read in a beautiful cursive that Castiel had never seen before. He went to the window behind his couch to see that Josh was looking out for him. Castiel at first smiled at the boy and then he shut the window tight and closed the curtains. He sat down holding his head in his hands, this was so wrong; he couldn't do this with Josh. He couldn't do it to this boy who somehow actually had feelings for him. It wasn't just a one night stand or a wild romp with a gay man pretending to be straight. He couldn't let his hollow-self takeover and ruin Josh. His hollow-self had emerged when he had lost Micheal  who had left a void that no one could fill. Castiel had been trying to fill it with meaningless sex. It's not like he hadn't found people who could have been much more than just a fling. But he actively kept it strictly physical so that no one could come as close as Micheal  ever had. Micheal  would never lose his place in Castiel’s heart.    
On top of all that there were these murders that were happening and Castiel felt tremendously alone. He couldn't exactly go up to his doctor and say, hey, I guess I'm killing people. Lucian was on his trail and sooner or later Castiel would be caught. His epilepsy episodes were getting serious and yes, his internet search was showing him that epileptic episodes could be violent not just on the patients but on the people around them. Insanity pleas don't work in this God fearing town is what Gabriel had once said mockingly. Castiel wanted to lock himself up and throw away the key. However, that would mean it would raise many alarms.    
Maybe that's what he should do, just go and confess. But then there was a part of his mind that was not ready to accept this version. Firstly, how was he doing it? Murdering these people and then just getting home without anyone noticing the blood? Then the next question was, why was he doing it? The media had nothing but gas in their theories, from jilted lover to murdering maniac who hated gay people. Well, he clearly was not a jilted lover since these men meant nothing to him. Maybe he was going crazy; maybe he had never recovered from the death of Micheal   and maybe created this other personality. But then he never heard voices in his head - but then, what about the blackouts? Castiel screamed and kicked the coffee table in front of him, tossing everything over. He missed Gabriel so much right now, but he couldn't bother him since Kali was going under treatment for her cancer. Castiel felt something cold on his face and he touched it. He realised that he was crying and he crashed on the floor cowering in fear, anxiety gripping his heart. He felt the entire house walls coming down on him. Through the haze of his tears he saw the knife kept on the kitchen platform. It dawned on him that would be the best way out of it. It would be the only way to stop the monster that he was becoming and not that anyone would miss him. He got up and raised himself to the counter, pulling out the knife from the set. He balled his hand into a fist and after a moment of hesitation glided the knife across his wrist. The knife changed hands and the bloody hand sliced the wrist of the other hand. Castiel suddenly felt the seething pain but he didn't care anymore. Just then he heard a loud thud on the door and the door hung lowly on its hinges. He heard a voice in the distance somewhere "Oh my God! No!" Someone was rushing in,  he heard footsteps and then two hands were catching him as he lost all consciousness.   
He woke up to the white washed walls of the hospital. Someone caught his hand and he looked up at the owner. It was Josh looking at him as though he was the centre of his universe. "Oh thank God, you are OK? You lost a lot of blood." Castiel smiled drily at him and closed his eyes. A week went by and Castiel's health improved; Josh's devotion for him gained new heights. At first Castiel tried to shoo him away but he couldn't stand the dejected look on his face. By the end of the week the doctor told him he was good to go and Josh was very excited to get Castiel back home.  It was evening by the time the formalities were done and Josh carried his bag to his Buick. "Nice car", Castiel complemented Josh.   
"You like it?" Josh asked a little too eagerly.    
Castiel nodded and smiled at him. He sat next to Josh and they drove off. The sun was setting and they were driving through a wooded area. The hospital was far away from the city. Josh cleared his throat in an attempt to break the silence "uhm so..."   
"You want to know why?" Castiel guessed what Josh was trying to ask of him.    
"Yes and no" Josh answered, looking straight at the road in front of him.   
"Meaning?" the other man asked him quizzically.    
"Yes, I would like to know but I kind of know how you feel. I know how lonely you feel, cos I feel that way too. I'm pretending to be something I'm not. Not even my best friends know, dad says maybe I should wait" he explained.   
Castiel smiled and said "well, at least your family is on your side."   
"Yeah that’s good I guess" Josh replied demurely. Castiel stretched his hand and landed it on Josh's hand. He sucked in a sharp breath and stopped the car on the side and said "you make me feel.." He stopped midway as Castiel put a hand on his mouth and Josh watched him with stunned silence. Castiel closed the gap between them, at first Josh was shocked but then he eagerly accepted Castiel into his mouth. He moaned into Castiel’s mouth while Josh's eager hands pulled him closer but he resisted and stopped him.    
"Please.." Castiel asked faltering in his resolve.    
"Oh ok" Josh backed out. He began to drive again. They reached home and Josh said to Castiel as he was taking his bag upstairs, "I'll get dinner for you from home. Dad told me to", before Castiel could decline his offer.   
Castiel went inside his empty room and the weariness of the day took over.. He crashed on his inviting couch and drifted off to sleep. 

__ He woke up and saw that it was about 11 on his phone that lay beside him. His stomach growled in hunger and he saw that the lights in his room were off. He got up and then stumbled on to something. He heard a doorbell "I'm coming" he replied wearily, thinking who might be there to see him this late.   
He somehow got up on his feet and reached the nearby wall. Now someone banged on the door. His hands found the light switch just next to the door "open up, Novak!" said a grim authoritative voice from outside the door.    
"Alright" he said, opening the door to see his brother Lucian looking at him in disbelief and distress in his eyes. He closed his mouth and entered the flat.

_ "Oh my God, arrest this man now!", he yelled to his fellow officers.    
Castiel followed his gaze to see that there was the body of Josh Parker sprawled across the floor. The next words he heard were "Mr. Castiel Novak, you're under arrest for the murders of Benjamin Thorne, Guy Salieri and John Brady." _

 -------

"Now is the time you tell me what is happening?" Leona said, breaking the tensed silence of the car. Dean looked at her and said "I think you might have been right about the prisoner deaths in the facility."   
Her eyes lifted up with interest and she looked at him "Who is it?"   
"Trust me, I'm saving him and you got your interview" Dean replied, trying to sound calm and not looking at Leona.    
"Oh dear God, it is Castiel!!! Gabriel will be destroyed" Leona said as the horrible realization dawned on her.   
"Heyyy you gotta trust me" Dean said, trying fruitlessly to calm down Leona.    
"How did you know?" she asked.    
"I can't tell you that" with this he stopped the car and turned to her, asking, "Can you drive?"   
Leona merely moved her from side to side mouthing the word no.   
She got out of the car and said "don't worry, I'll walk. It's just a couple of blocks from here"   
"I'm sorry for doing this....I owe you one" he said, smiling at her.   
She smiled back, waving him goodbye, and began to walk back to her house. As she was walking on the wet tiles of the footpath her mind wandered on her first and last case as a lawyer in this city. Maybe Sam had been right, she should not have taken the case that involved a child.    
" _ You have got to say something to me Jerome, what's happening?" She  _ asked, looking at his bruised face.  _ "Are they hurting you?" she asked with concern lining her every word. _   
_ "Oh no this....it's just prison fights...ain't nobody here who can hurt me...just one favour though, don't tell my mom about it" he told her, looking at her pleadingly. _   
_ "Jerome.... Please" she said, looking at his calm and brave face. She knew that this sentence had pretty much sealed the deal for him.  _   
_ A few days later she had received a call from the Prison informing her about Jerome's suicide. It had been late night, she dropped the phone and buried her face in her hands. Sam had woken up with a start and asked her in a sleepy tone " Hey, what's the matter?" _

_ She got up and went to the kitchen to get some water. Near the kitchen counter she broke down. After 5 mins she felt two strong arms around her. "Hey babe, what's the matter" he repeated, pulling her close. He pulled her tear stained face into his hands and tried to stop her from crying. "Leona honey, please, what's the matter!" _   
_ "Jerome....he...killed himself" she said through her tears. _   
_ "What? Oh god, no" he said disbelieving it. She nodded her head and he pulled her closer. "I want to see it" she said, raising her head and looking at him. _   
_ "Leona..." _   
_ "That's the least you can do" she said pointedly. Sam had looked pained but he had pursed his lips tight and said "Okay." _   
_ In a few minutes they were at the morgue to see the body of Jerome. Outside, his mother was crying and when she saw Leona, she went towards her, but Sam had stopped her. "They got my baby!!" She yelled at her.  _   
_ She went through the steel doors to see him there, lying still  on the cold steel bed. The doctor, who was a lady, said "Well, I don't know what to say?" _   
_ "What do you mean?" Sam asked her. _   
_ "Well, he's been severely beaten as you can see with bruise marks, and then maybe he hanged himself", she observed. _   
_ "But how did he get those?" Leona asked.  _   
_ "Prison fight is what the officer told me, though some of them look freshly made" she said. _   
_ Leona covered her mouth and turned around. She quietly walked out of the doors, knowing she wouldn't be the same again. _   


\------

  
Through his closed eyes which weren’t much of a shelter from the bright lights from the corridor he suddenly realized that it was pitch dark. He heard footsteps which came to a stop. He opened his eyes to see that his gate had opened up. He sat up straight, trying to see the dark figure that approached him. The figure picked him up and said "it is time you face redemption for your sins... _ The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself _ ."   
"Cain....I didn't take you for a Bible thumper" Castiel said, looking up at Cain as his face lit up in the glow of a matchstick which he used to light his cigarette. "So you know why I am here then?"   
"I wondered what took you so long.  _ Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. _ ” Castiel replied simply.   
"Seems like you did read your Bible" Cain remarked.   
"Christian household, couldn't really escape it" Castiel replied smilingly to himself.   
"I know my soul is not clean but delivering lost souls like yours will bring me closer to God", with that he raised his baton and gave a sharp blow on Castiel's  back. Another man came behind him with a noose.

  
\------

The rain was tapping heavily on the Impala's hood when Dean reached the county prison. He moved out of the car and into the main prison complex. He was greeted by Benny who reported to him "Sir, the lights in the corridors of block 14 are out. I can't see a thing on the cameras."He and Benny were rushing towards block 14 when something struck Dean and he held Benny's arm stopping him mid-flight. He said “The room has nothing that can hold him for that long. They'll take him out somewhere, that's the reason the lights are out so that they can transfer him someplace else. I need a map."   
Benny pulled his hand and Dean followed him towards a fire escape map as they turned a corner. Benny pointed to block 14 on the map. “This entire area of block 14 has been blacked out. Look here, at the end of the corridor is the service stairs that lead towards the laundry" Benny said pointing towards the map.   
They both rushed towards the staircase. As they began to climb the staircase, they could hear faint voices from below them. Dean put a finger on his lips indicating Benny to remain quiet. He went ahead of Benny and removed his 44 magnum while Benny removed the safety in his shotgun. As they descended down the stairs, the voices became more pronounced. They finally reached the laundry room floor and saw a small corridor that led towards the room. They reached the end of the corridor and saw that Castiel was struggling with a noose tightening around his neck. He was tied to one of the main water pipes, Dean got worried when he saw Castiel closed his eyes. He and Benny charged forward and yelled "Freeze!!” Dean fired at the rope and caught Castiel and carefully placed him on to the floor. “Benny, arrest these men, anyone who tries to resist arrest I won't mind shooting them dead" and he glared at them furiously. He turned to Castiel, removed the noose and tried to wake him up. His heart began to thump loudly,  thinking that maybe he was too late. Dean felt a lump building up in this throat when he croaked out his name "Cas…" and closed his eyes in a silent prayer. As though in an answer to his prayer, Dean saw two very blue eyes looking at him. Dean beamed at him for a moment and then checked himself and asked, “Novak, can you walk?"


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12_

 

"Can you believe her?" Ruby said as she came out of the bathroom. She was wearing her black laced slip made of satin. She shuffled next to Sam who was staring blankly at a point on the front wall. His train of thought was still stuck at the part when he saw Dean snake his arm around Leona's waist and walking out of the party.   
Ruby picked up on Sam's distracted face and pulled his face towards her. "What did I tell you about her? She'll be fine and…well I didn't think that Dean would go out with her knowing what she had done with you. I mean, she's so prejudiced and petty. I mean, why, because she was having a fight with you? What kind of a person would do that?" she stated bluntly.   
At this moment Sam looked up to her with hurt in his eyes. Ruby stopped talking and hugged him tightly. He buried his face in her chest. "It’s okay babe, I won't let anything happen to you... I know which team I'm playing for" she said, picking up his face in her small hands. Sam kissed her and pulled her onto himself. She more than eagerly hopped on and weaved her hands into his hair. Sam leaned into her touch and pushed his hands under her slip. She moaned loudly and Sam let out a snort. Ruby looked down at him with a frown on her face and asked "What’s so funny?"   
"Oh, nothing" Sam replied quickly, looking down to hide the grin.   
She looked at him with concern lining her face; finally, she asked, "What's the matter, Sam? I heard from Dad what happened?"   
His smile had vanished as he looked up at her grimly. “I think I just could not hide anymore.” He saw that Ruby could not follow him and he should have let it go at that, but then he thought about how  he could not bear his heart to his future wife. What kind of a relationship would that be? He decided to go on and said “What do you want me to say? That your father has ambiguous morality, or the fact that he was angry that I didn't share his views?"   
She looked at him with shock and disdain which quickly turned into anger. "Where do you even come off from, Sam Winchester, calling my father morally ambiguous?"   
Sam realised what he had said and he raised his hands up in surrender, but it was too late as he saw Ruby get off the bed and pull on a robe. She stood near the door of the bedroom and held it open. Sam looked down dejectedly and walked out of the bedroom. He sat on the couch and turned on the TV. As he was flipping through the channels, he landed on Cinemax showing a rather high budget porno about pirates. Well, pornos had come a long way from dingy motel rooms to studios. And yet something's never changed, like the over the top acting and fake orgasms. How did he know that? All thanks to the annoying presence (more like former presence) of Leona in his life.   
_One such night when Leona had been over to visit her parents in California, Sam had finally decided to open up Dean's rather conspicuous present that he had given to him for his birthday: ‘Deep Throat', a classic according to him. Sam looked about making sure there was no one there in an already empty house and guiltily turned on the TV. A few minutes later, when Sam was completely engrossed on what was happening on the screen, he didn't realise when someone had said "Sam Winchester, I go away for a week and this what you do" right next to his feet near the couch. Sam closed his eyes first since he recognised the voice and then turned to see Leona staring down at him. He quickly searched for the remote when he saw it in her hands._

_"Leona...I...." he tried to explain himself in vain when he saw her come and sit next to him on the couch. Then she looked at him all hurt when he saw her bite her lips trying to hold back something._

_"Oh God Sam, I cannot do this with you" she said laughing. Sam relaxed a little bit as she paused the video._

_"I never took you for a porno kind of guy. Guess I owe some money to Dean," she continued as Sam looked at her all confused when she explained "OK, before your birthday we were picking up gifts for you and when Dean had picked this" she said, pointing to the porno which was paused now, "I said you won't really fall for all the fake noises and the gross over-acting. Dean said that won’t matter since you were a man."_   
_Sam looked down guiltily, "Well, your pretty face has cost me some money... I'm going to make sure you pay me back every penny of it" she said, pulling up his face. "What say we do a little live action role play?” she said with a mischievous grin, while  Sam´s face changed from hurt puppy dog to a deer caught in headlights.  She pushed him back on one side of the couch stretching the long form of Sam on the couch. She climbed on top of him and slowly brought her face and hands near the hem of his pants which showed the beginning of his hardening cock. She undid his sweat pants and Sam hitched a breath. In one clean sweep she pulled his pants down to see that he wasn’t wearing any underwear, she looked at him and saw him go all pink. Sam's cock felt the sting of cold air and then her warm hands enveloping it. He looked at Leona's hungry eyes and felt a blush creep up his cheeks. She moved her hair to one side where it brushed Sam's thigh, making him wince under her. She brushed her tongue across his length and then slowly circled her tongue over the head of his cock. Sam closed his eyes and pushed his head to one side. She soon took him inside her mouth and began to slowly set a rhythm by bobbing her head up and down, taking in more of Sam with every swallow. "Oh God, Leona...don't stop!" Sam said pushing his hips upwards trying to feel more of Leona’s warm mouth on his cock. His hands weaved into her hair, he started pulling, earning a moan from her as he gently tried to fuck her mouth. He looked down at her and saw that she was as lost as him in the throes of passion. "Leona...I'm...." and Sam came only to realise that Leona was still there. She pulled up helping Sam with the last few shivers of his orgasm. She looked up at him wiping her face and licking her fingers tasting the last of his cum. Sam had never been turned on so quickly; he pulled her down and said "let's see if I can make you moan like those girls in the movie!”Leona let out a laugh._   
"Aaah" the pirate girl screamed as she reached her orgasm, pulling Sam back from his trip down memory lane. He opened his eyes to find himself alone on the couch, with the lights from the TV on his face and a mess in his pants.

 

Dean paced like a caged animal, hoping that Ellen would come through those doors with some desperately needed good news. He had this deep hollow pit forming in the centre of his stomach. He would have loved it if the only reason for his anxiety was that a prisoner almost died on his watch. But no, the reason for his uneasy feeling was the fact that he had almost lost Castiel. That there was a hit on his head and that meant there was something he knew which was making a few people outside these walls uncomfortable. In addition to this, there was something in his eyes which was not just guilt, but also a kind of confusion when Dean had held him till they got the stretcher to get him to the infirmary.  A more disturbing discovery was made by Benny when he had gone to his cell block and found that there were hardly any signs of a struggle. Did that mean that somehow Castiel had wanted it? Was it because he thought that being in prison wasn't punishment enough? There was something in Castiel that made Dean think that he wasn't guilty and Castiel was slowly losing that part of him. There was this innocence in his eyes which was slowly leaving him as the prison and his own guilt took a piece out of it.  
"Winchester, he wants to see you" Ellen barged out breaking Dean's chain of thought. "He's fine, physically at least, just a couple of bruises. I think he needs a psych evaluation", she observed solemnly.   
Dean simply nodded his agreement with Ellen and went inside. He went in through the white doors of the infirmary to see the form of Castiel leaning against the white pillow. He went closer to him and stood there taking in the dismal sight in front of him. Dean saw the scars of ropes on his wrists and neck and there was a bluish color tinging his cheek. He extended his hand to touch Castiel’s face, from which he flinched away and looked up at him. Castiel's blue eyes had some sort of a sharp edge when he looked up towards Dean. He seemed like he was seething from the inside.    
"You should be awfully proud of yourself, warden. You managed to save another life and your record remains clean as ever." Dean moved an inch back and looked at him, astounded at the viciousness of Castiel's remark.

He continued "Like, have you ever considered the possibility that a person doesn't want to be saved? That maybe, just maybe he wants to escape this nightmare called his life. I'm tired of people making the choices for me...." He choked and looked down to hide the tears stinging in his eyes. Dean placed a hand on his shoulder and patted, Castiel held his hand and he moved closer to sit next to him. They both sat in silence until Castiel managed to get a hold of himself. He looked up at Dean who was smiling at him quietly in a reassuring way. He felt himself relax under his gaze and looked up at the man, wanting to say something that would let the man know he was grateful for coming and saving him when he did. But Castiel remained quiet and Dean cleared his throat and said "Cas, you would like to believe that you're just a number for me and trust me, I'd like to believe that too. But sadly that is not the truth and I would like you to hold on for a few more days and not lose hope."   
Castiel snorted derisively and looked up at Dean and asked "Why?"   
"I want to help you", Dean tried.   
"Help...really, why...cause you think I didn't  really kill all those men...well, I wish I could tell you I  haven't, but the truth is that...I don't remember", he said despairingly. His lips were curled into a dry smile and his eyes were reeking of hopelessness. Dean tried to say something, but his mind refused to let him say something stupid, how could he be sure that Cas hadn't actually killed all those men? He had a duty to uphold the law and make sure that justice was done. But then he had been long enough in the system to know that there were many people who were trapped because of prejudices that prevailed or were just too poor to afford justice. Dean smiled at him and touched his face and saw Castiel lean into his touch. He felt something warm in his heart, a feeling that made him feel excited, yet also scared. Dean stroked his face as though he was memorising Castiel’s face with his hands. As his hands went over the bruise near his eye, he felt a resolve take shape in his chest and he stroked his cheek with his thumb. He leaned down bringing his face closer to Castiel's and looked deep in his eyes. This served in disarming whatever defences Castiel had built up and that vulnerable innocence was back in his eyes. Dean took in Castiel's smell and leaned even closer, breathing on his face. He said in a breathy voice, "I don't want you to lose hope, for me". Castiel took in a sharp breath and could only manage to nod his head.   
As Dean walked out of the door, he pulled out his phone; he knew what he had to do.

 

She felt that familiar weight on her but it didn't feel right. For the first time she felt it was heavy and crushing her. She didn't want to be  there, she wanted to be out of here...the familiar brush of lips on her neck which was trailing down now felt disgusting...Stop, she said very meekly, cause she couldn't believe this was happening to her...how could something so regular could feel so alien and repulsive at the same time...she wanted to push the weight off, but she couldn't, her hands were trapped...this never happened to girls like her ...all of sudden she felt a knee forcing itself in between her legs... No, please no, wake up, wake up...  
Leona opened her eyes with a start and looked at the watch. It was 4am in the morning. She was drenched in sweat and her phone was ringing, almost ready to fall off the night stand. She rolled over to the side and picked up to see the call was from Dean. She closed her eyes, inhaling one strong breath and answered. "Hey Dean, are you OK?" she asked, realising it was definitely an unusual hour to call. She heard Dean clear his throat. "Hey...it's about Cas...” Before he could say something further, Leona piped in "Oh my god, is he dead?" The events of last night came back to her.    
"He's fine ..." Dean replied exasperatedly. "I remember you asking for an interview with him...show up by 10." With this, he cut his call.

 

Leona could not believe her luck that she had finally gotten herself the interview with Castiel. She got up from her bed and went to the drawing room, pulling out files from her bag on the table. She spent the next couple of hours poring over the files collected by Ash. As the clock struck 6 am, she took the phone next to her and dialled Ash’s number. Leona heard the phone ring for a good minute when she a heard a groggy voice answer the phone in some language that wasn’t recognised by Leona.

“Ash!” Leona said realising that it was him who had answered.

“Leona, its 6 in the morning” Ash groaned into the phone.

“I got us an interview with Castiel Novak” she replied excitedly.

“Seriously” all the sleep had vanished from his voice.

“Yes, we have to meet him at 10 at the state penitentiary but before that I want you to go and meet a Mrs Belle Thorne” she said, looking at the clock on the table.

“Wait, is that the wife of Benjamin Thorne?” Ash recognised the name immediately.

“Yes, and she has some evidence that she would like to share with us” Leona explained.

“Great, I will go and pick it up” Ash said, matching her enthusiasm.

The hours went by quickly and Leona found herself standing at the prison gates, waiting for Ash to show up. He was running late, but she could not blame him, Belle Thorne was quite the talker. She finally saw his car turning away from the highway towards the prison.

“Sorry boss, the lady refused to let me go without some tea” he said, smiling at her.

“That’s fine, let’s go inside” she said, getting into the passenger seat.

“Dean would kill you if he ever saw the insides of your car” she said, looking at the mess in the backseat of Ash’s Honda. She remembered the time he had yelled at her when she had given him a lift in Sam’s car. Oh god, there was that name again, her hands clutched tightly are the file in her hands.

“Nervous?” Ash looked down at her hands.

“Nothing,” she replied, looking away.

They stopped once they were inside the prison gate and they were greeted by the sight of a grinning officer Benny Lafitte. He guided them towards the meeting room where Dean was waiting for them.

“Hey, Leona” he said, greeting her with a hug.

“I guess I woke you up a little early” he said, looking at her face with concern.

“That’s ok, I really appreciate all your help. Is he alright?” Leona said, trying to look beyond Dean at the corridor anxiously.

“Well, I think he needs to talk to someone.  He has refused psych eval. This is the only thing he said yes to” Dean said aggravatedly.

“Will this put you in trouble? I mean, if he was attacked or something.” she inquired with some distress in her voice.

Dean smiled and said “Trust me, it will be nothing that I cannot handle.”

With this Leona and Ash made their way down the corridor towards another room. There were two guards outside the room and they opened the door as they saw Leona and Ash approach. As Leona and Ash stepped inside, she saw a man with the most beautiful features with a serious case of bed hair. Ash nudged her and said “Shouldn’t he be in some sort of restraints?”

She looked at him pointedly in response. The man was busy looking at his folded hands.

“Hey there!” she said, trying to gain his attention and found a pair of deep blue eyes staring back at her. She cleared her throat and continued “Hi, my name is Leona, and this is my partner Ash. We are investigators for your brothers’ law firm.”

He just smiled at them and Ash nudged her again, pointing with his eyes towards Castiel’s hands. She saw the marks of ropes on those wrists; he quickly hid his hands below the table when he saw them staring at his wrists.

“Castiel, it is okay, you can tell us what is happening to you here?” she said, looking at him.

He pursed his lips tightly and said “Is this my defence that you are working on that I am being abused here?”

Both Ash and Leona looked at him with a jolt at this outburst.

Leona quickly recuperated from the initial shock and said 'OK, then how about you tell us about these black outs. Did you always have these? Or was this more recent a scenario?”  
Castiel seemed to relax a little bit and moved back in his chair. "I had epilepsy as a teenager, but it was not very severe, and when the first attack happened, I saw a doctor here."   
"Does that mean your first attack happened here?" Leona observed.   
"Um yes, I guess it was the erratic life. I had a much more regimented life in New York?" Castiel exemplified. Remembering his time with Michael and how he had insisted that Castiel move out of his dark room and studio to exercise and eat healthy.     
"Oh” Leona remarked and she smiled to herself.    
"Is there something wrong?"  Castiel said at the odd response.   
"Oh no, my friend's from there. In fact I had decided to go there after my degree was over?" She clarified.   
"Oh, then why didn’t you?" Castiel asked with some interest.   
She had to decide if she wanted to keep this professional or do the same mistake she had done with Jerome.   
She considered him for a moment more and said "Let's just say that love makes you do stupid things."   
A snort escaped Castiel and he then smiled half-heartedly and said “Don’t we all do that. My boyfriend wanted to come back....to see my family...a family that thought I was an abomination from God...he was sure that they would be more accepting and I don't know what I was thinking in going ahead with this...". Thinking back on the time just before the accident and the fight that they had because Michael wanted to meet Lucifer and Anna. How, after listening to Michael, he also thought he should visit them.   
"Oh dear, I thought I was the only one to leave sunny California for this place..." Leona quickly added.   
"California, wow! What’s even stranger is that I still came back here after he passed away" Castiel said, looking away into the distance. Leona reached her hands across the table and Castiel caught them tightly and said "Sorry about that".   
Castiel liked this woman, she seemed like a genuinely nice person who wanted to help, and yet there was this hollowness in her eyes. He could identify with that feeling, the look of perennial sadness in the eyes. Like, she might smile but underneath it, that sadness would still be there.    
"Why are you doing this?" Castiel asked her out of nowhere. She once again considered her response, this could make or break their relationship. Meanwhile Castiel continued “I mean, come on, there are more deserving people in this prison who deserve a second chance. I'm the last person who deserves a second chance, what is your defence even going to be, that `sorry your honour, my client passed out  while the murders happened´? I know people who are literally rotting in this very prison for petty crimes. I am getting this special treatment because my brother is a big hot shot lawyer in the city."   
Leona took a deep breath and asked, "So you are sure you have committed these murders then?", Leona said jumping on the opportunity. Castiel looked up with a glint of vulnerability which he was hiding behind his nonchalance. He looked down again. "I wish I had an answer to that. But then, even if I hadn't ...wasn't I responsible for their deaths? I can feign innocence on the deaths of Benjamin, John, but what about the other two. I knew I was cursed and yet I led them on" he said, looking down and clutching his hands together.    
"The truth shall set you free" Ash said from behind them. "That's the reason we are here, to know what really happened. We all know the police work wasn't up to the mark here, or else you wouldn't have had that confused look on your face. For starters, they ignored the mental health angle. Also other aspects like the fact that maybe the victims might be connected to each other", Ash explained.   
"Castiel, don't see this as an attempt by your brother to save you. Take it more of an attempt to know the truth, something that may set your mind at peace.”  Leona said, looking deeply into his eyes, trying to reach out to him.

Castiel smiled and said " I know that I shouldn't hope for the best to happen, but yes, I would like to know the truth of what happened. I'll try to help you as much as I can, but on one condition, that I want complete transparency. By that I mean, you will tell me everything, even if the evidence points to the fact that I may be guilty."

Both Ash and Leona shared a nervous glance and she spoke "Yes, you have my word."


	13. Chapter 13

" _Do you know how annoying he can be?" Michael  grumbled at Gabriel. He looked up guiltily when the realisation dawned on him that Gabriel was not only his friend, but also Castiel's brother. He continued to look at Michael amusingly, and said: "Now-  what happened?” They were walking down the busy street in Manhattan. After a quick lunch, Michael had grabbed him out into the street and was barrelling down crossing all the major shops as they went towards Michael’s destination. “It's just that he's so possessive. He was angry with me after seeing that the new intern was bent a little too low on my table while showing me the paperwork that he had finished" Michael irked._

_"Well, you can't blame him, Scott did have a crush on you. Remember the shoelace incident where he said your shoelace was untied and he bent down while grazing his cheek on your..." Gabriel insinuated._

_"OK, alright, no need to go into the grim details. I remember it quite well. It's just that I lose all self-control around Castiel and I have never been like this. He's so passionate and so alive, sometimes it scares me that I may never be able to put myself together if he leaves me" Michael said with a blush gracing his chiselled features. Gabriel realised that they had entered a jewellery store. "Oh my God, are you sure about this? I mean, you spent the last 30 minutes cribbing about him."_

_Michael smiled showing his dimples and said "Gabe, this is the only solution to put my heart at ease. I don't want to lose him. I want to wake up to his stupid face and go to sleep kissing his lovely lips every living night of my life."_

_Gabriel beamed at this and was glad that he had convinced Michael to be Castiel's model and thus playing the part of cupid. His baby brother deserved Michael and the happiness and protection only he could provide. Gabriel helped choose a ring for Cassie and while they were packing it, he placed a hand on Michael's shoulder and said: "I know you would never do this, but if you ever hurt my baby brother, I'll kill you". Michael looked up at him in confusion and saw Gabriel was not smiling anymore; a minute later they both laughed. "I cannot believe you just gave me the big brother speech," he said, smiling. That would be the last time Gabriel would ever see him smiling._

\------

"You should have seen her; she gained his confidence so easily. Guess it's the grief that bonded them," Ash said and  went on, "oh man, look at the time, I'll see you tomorrow, bos!", rising from his seat. "Leaving so soon?" Leona said as she placed the coffee and sandwiches in front of Gabriel. They had been sitting at Paradise Cafe where Leona had filled him in about her progress on the case and her interview with Castiel. Gabriel had been trying for the last three weeks to get another interview with his brother, but it was of no use. Leona had filled him in with all the necessary details, only hiding the fact about the marks on Castiel's wrists. She knew Gabriel would flip out and that could costs Dean his job. She saw him smiling into the coffee and she stretched her hands to touch his hands. "He's fine, isn't he? What do you think about his innocence?" Gabriel asked.  

The question she had been avoiding all evening was finally there out in the open. She decided to tackle the most obvious one and said "I don't know if he did it or not, but the funny thing is, neither does he. He has no clue of his guilt and we have a ray of hope there. He's doing fine there...Dean's a good warden" she said, sipping her hot coffee, knowing all too well that she had not been completely honest with him. Gabriel had a bite out of his sandwich and said: "So you guys connected, huh, on being crazy in love?”

Leona was glad for the change of subject though not really enjoying the new subject. She looked down and said " Yeah, so Michael and he were about to be married. He told me about the ring and how he still carried it around till he lost it one day and he doesn't remember when. He was really sad about that" she replied, remembering Castiel's grief stricken eyes. "Yeah, he loved him alot and never quite forgave himself for what happened to Michael. But then truth be told, they both overreacted and honestly, till I got the call from the hospital I thought they were going to have some hot sex and I would get a call from Michael telling me they were engaged. He did give him the ring in the hospital, but we lost him the next day."

"I figured he was attached to it as he described it in great detail, so much so that Ash took it down. That could explain a lot about Castiel's behaviour leading up to his arrest. The meaningless sex romps with random people to having something meaningful with Guy to completely losing himself after he found Josh dead on the floor. The guilt came barrelling down onto him." Gabriel was smiling at her, “You got all that from what, like a two hours meeting? I knew I was banking my faith with the right person.”

"Well, to be honest, it was only an hour and fifteen minutes considering the fact that Castiel decided to have a standoff with me and Ash," she said, smiling with a tinge of nervous energy. Mary came to her rescue and said: "Hello Mr Novak, how about some more coffee, and honey, you have a phone call." Leona excused herself and picked up the phone call.

\-------

Lucien had no idea how to feel, except perturbed. He had always wanted this but never knew what he would do if it ever really did happen. But then nothing had changed between them and yet so many things had happened, _maybe she was drunk_ was all the explanation his mind could muster up. His mind went back to the party when Anna had taken him mid-conversation with the new warden of the prison. "Let's dance Luci, we never do that anymore," she said sneaking her hands around his neck. "For you are far too worried what Gideon would say about it," he said, looking into the direction of said man and saw him looking at them while he raised his glass in acknowledgement of Lucien. "He's Reverend Gideon, and that's not true. You are always busy" she said, pulling his face towards her. He looked into her brown eyes and quickly looked away, thinking that this might not be the best situation for him as he felt himself blushing. "Lucien, why are you looking away from me?" she asked curiously, pulling his face once again to face her. Lucien looked down, avoiding eye contact, getting worried that he might accidentally let his true feelings for her slip out from his eyes. Anna was really perceptive when it came to gauging feelings, almost as good as Cassie. She pulled his hand down around her waist and he instinctively pulled her close to him. "Oh Lucien," she whispered in his ears. He immediately tried to pull his hand away; but she held it, whispering "They aren't looking here", making a thousand butterflies take flight in his stomach. "Let's go somewhere" she whispered again and Lucien couldn't believe his own ears. He looked at her and she smiled at him coyly. His head felt light and he didn't know if it was the whisky or Anna's words that made him take her hand and push through the crowd towards the exit. They drove in silence heading towards Anna's house (which was their childhood home). She was living with his uncle since the old fellow claimed that he was not as quick as he was before. But Lucien knew it was to keep an eye on his daughter and to make sure she never faltered from the path of God. As he pulled over the car, she clenched their hands together and pulled him into the house. As soon as they were inside, Lucien's lips were on hers and she willingly opened her mouth letting him slide into her. Her hands were in his short hair pulling him closer, driving Lucien over the moon. They broke the kiss for air and she said "Upstairs, please."

Lucien had begun to think that this was a dream and he would wake up very soon. That didn't stop him from lifting her up the stairs to her bedroom. He almost fell onto the bed with her. His hand glided up from her legs slowly inching under  her skirt and he saw her close her eyes and look away. He nuzzled his face in the small of her neck and she let out a moan. Spurred on by this, he grazed his teeth on her neck, "oh God Luci," and she moved her hands into his hair. "Bite me" she whispered into his ear and Lucien more than obeyed by sinking his teeth into her soft pale skin. He pulled off her lacy underwear underneath her skirt and he felt her other hand on his shoulder dig into it. He rose his head realising he was fully awake, that's when he saw the teardrops edging at her eyes and her red nose. He also caught a faint whiff of alcohol mixed with her perfume. He quickly removed his hands realising what he was about to do. He asked her "Anna, hey, how much alcohol did you have?"

She now looked up at him guiltily "I don't remember, but Luci ....I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing" she said, hiding away the horrified look on her face. Lucien got up quickly from the bed and adjusted his hair and clothes. "I'm sorry, I should have realised that you might have ..." He didn't complete his words. He rushed down the stairs and Anna had followed him yelling behind him "Luci, please wait..."but it was too late as he was already out of the door. He gripped the driving wheel tightly and brought the car to a screeching halt in front of the police station.

\------

"So I need information on these guys?" Dean asked looking at Benny. "Well, sir, they're members of the Soldiers of God. Two of the three are in for the long haul while Cain is a transferee from Texas."he said, looking at the files in front of him. "This is attempted murder inside a prison. Do these people have any affiliation to the Mafia?"

"Yes, Martin and Patrick both had mafia connections. Martin is here for possession of drugs and trafficking of women and children. He used to work for the redneck mafia on the outskirts of the city while Patrick is a sick fuck; he was a hitman for local mafia boss Bertolucci. He is in for armed robbery and arson of a police convoy that were carrying confiscated drugs that 'belonged' to his boss."

"OK, so real hard nuts huh? But why did you say used to? Aren't their bosses taking care of them?" Dean observed.

Benny turned the file towards Dean and pointed to ornately decorated cross tattoos on Patrick's arm. "They have pledged allegiance to the soldiers, they won't be a part of the system any longer. All three of them, in fact, I think Cain was already a member."

"What do you mean already a member? What is he in here for?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Whenever we take a new transfer, we photograph them and he had the tattoo already on his back. Well, his file says he's in for triple homicide. That's it, no further details, and he came in recently, let's see, like six months ago" Benny clarified.

"That's odd, does that mean there are chapters of this organisation? If it does, then it might explain some other killings here. We need to find who the main head is and crack down on this gang heavily. Do these guys have families or anything outside?" Dean contemplated.

“No sir, not that it is listed here. Plus no visitors or anything" Benny said, closing the file.

"I bet you that these three are the hitmen here. All three don't have anyone? That can't be right. We need to find a weak spot for at least one of them." Dean went to the window and saw the mail truck park in. He smiled and turned to Benny "Check the mail".

Dean saw him jump out of the seat and leave. Once alone, Dean felt a familiar pit grow in his stomach that he had felt when he had seen Leona and Castiel bonding and for the first time he had seen the mask of composure come off from Castiel’s face. He had seen a deep seeded pain cast over his face. He picked up the phone and dialled his mum's café. He had overheard Leona that she was meeting with Gabriel there. He didn't want to call her cell in case she was speaking to Gabriel. The phone rang and Becky picked up and he said "get Leona please," he was glad that it was Becky who picked up. She was always in a dream world and failed to recognise his voice. Dean cursed himself for endangering Leona's position just to settle his anxiety. She finally answered with a wavering unsure voice "Hello?"

"Hey Leona" Dean said, trying to sound casual.

"Dean, hi, is everything OK?" she asked immediately.

"Oh I'm fine, do you have like a minute?" he asked nervously.

"Um, yeah. I better hope this is not about Castiel" Leona said, quickly picking up on the reason for Dean's call.

"Listen, Leona, it's not what you think. I saw that you really got through to him. I don't want to know what he told you about the prison. I saw that he really felt connected to you; he was looking at you as he was being carried back. I just want to know is he okay? He... He told me in the infirmary that maybe he didn't want to be saved. I wanted to know if he is contemplating suicide. I mean, I can't have that happening to Cas..." as the words left him he realised what he had just said.

"Dean, oh my god you....you really care for this guy" she said, grasping the situation quickly.

"You know what, forget what I said, in fact, I don't wanna know. Sorry for wasting your time" he hurriedly went to cut the call when Leona's voice interjected, “Dean, wait! Dean, this fellow is trouble and I'm not saying that owing to the fact that he's in prison for murder. I mean he has lost his boyfriend and it was pretty serious. All the men who ended up dead were more like band-aids he had applied to mend his heart. They never really meant anything more than something to fill the void for some time. I don't want you to get hurt" she said, genuine concern lining her voice. Dean stared straight out of the window where the sky showed clearly with the moon shining brightly alone in the sky. He cleared his throat and said "I'll keep that in mind Leona and ....this shouldn't leave you and me."

"You have my word, and please, heed my advice," she said. Dean kept the phone down as he saw Benny who came to him grinning. "Tell me you found something," he asked strongly.

"Well, neither of them gets any mail coming for them. But then I met Lavina and she told me that Patrick's cellmate is her boyfriend. He was bitching to her how he gets Patrick's mail and he refused to trade smokes for the mail last time around." Dean inwardly thanked the prison transvestite for being so helpful.

“Great, make sure the cellmate doesn't get his mail. These guys are way too organised to be just a couple of religious Zealots” Dean said. Benny nodded his head in agreement as he went to confiscate the mail. Dean went out to the window to open it to let in some cool night breeze when he saw a lone silhouette in the infirmary. He got up on his feet and went outside, walking straight towards the infirmary. When he reached there, the lights were out and Dean looked at his watch to see it was 9.30pm. Maybe his footsteps had alerted him and he had closed the lights since it was already lights out. All of a sudden, Castiel’s blue eyes flashed before him, which made Dean's heart flutter and despite better judgement, he went inside the infirmary.

\-------

It was 11.30pm when he finally closed his desktop and decided to call it a day. The day had been full of meetings including one with a rather disturbed chief detective Novak. He seemed to fall apart at the seams when he almost tripped over the coffee that Sam’s secretary had brought in for him. And yet the one thing that Lucien Novak had said to him remained hauntingly clear in his mind, they had been discussing the LeBron Walker case. "I don't think this boy had anything to do with the assault or the robbery at the church. He was just standing outside waiting for someone and I think he's trying to save that someone" the detective had inferred.  

"Oh come on, who else can it be? Surely you are not suggesting that it was one of the choir boys?" Sam said disbelievingly.  

"Why not, since they were all white boys? I thought you would learn something from the whole Jackson case? Didn't your marriage take a hit for it?" he said, smiling wickedly.

"Officer, please stay within your limits. Do you have any evidence for supporting what you are saying?" Sam said, raising his voice.

"Evidence, you really think everything happens on evidence, especially in such cases." Detective Novak continued darkly.

"Well the justice system doesn't work on hunches," Sam said, relaxing back in his chair without breaking eye contact.

"You know, you and I are very much alike. We are slaves to the system. For both of us, he was guilty the moment he was arrested" he said as he got up and  left.

Sam pursed his lips and picked up his keys. His phone rang and he picked up to see that it was his mum.

"Ma!" he said smilingly.  

"Hey honey, are you at home or office?" she asked.

"Why, mum?" he asked plainly.

"Oh honey, it's raining hard and my car won't start. I was hoping if you could give me a lift. Dean is stuck at work I think" his mum said hesitantly.

"No worries mum, I'll pick you up in like 15 mins," he said picking up his coat. He was out of the office driving down towards the central park. It was raining heavily when he realised he hadn't told Ruby about his detour. As he wheeled towards the park he saw his mum standing under a brightly coloured umbrella. He stopped his car right next to her and began to type a message to Ruby that he was going to be late on his phone. He sent his message and heard the door close with a loud bang. He looked up to see in the rear-view mirror that his mother was glaring at him from the back seat. He looked at her questioningly and asked “What?"

She pursed her lips and looked ahead; he followed her gaze to see a lonely figure walking ahead on the sidewalk. There was that familiar bright orange umbrella and he realised that Leona had been standing with his mum waiting with her for Sam to arrive. He quickly honked his horn and saw the figure in the orange umbrella come to halt while he drove next to her, finally  stopping the car. He lowered the window and said "I'm so sorry; I was so busy on my phone that I didn't see you. How about a ride home? It is raining heavily and I don't see any cabs or buses." he said looking around. He saw her turn around and as she was about to say something, his mum interrupted saying "Honey, please come in...do not argue"

He saw Leona reluctantly get in the seat next to him as his mum had put a lot of stuff next to her in the back seat. Her familiar scent of roses sent him down memory lane when on rather a damp summer night he had asked a very annoyed Leona to get inside the car.

_"Can you please just get in?" he had pleaded._

_"I don't need your charity, I can walk home” she argued._

_"Leona, you are creating a scene here, please for God´s sake, get in the car," he said exasperatedly. She had got in unwillingly and she was looking straight ahead towards the road. They had been to a formal dinner organised by the Mayor and things had turned bitter when Ruby had congratulated Sam for  Jerome’s case in front of Leona. She tried to move away from the conversation when Ruby had pulled her back in by saying "You see, menace in the society needs to be put in their place. Don't you think so?"_

_"Prison's shouldn't be the first answer for combating youth crime in the city. It's more of a quick fix to a much more serious and deep rooted problem" Leona explained._

_"Treating one child as a criminal serves a purpose of teaching the rest of children a lesson that a life of crime doesn't pay," Sam had weighed in. Their conversation had turned a few heads and Ruby seemed to be enjoying herself. Leona took in a sharp breath and said "Well, then that should have dissuaded an entire generation back in the 80s and 90s. The fact that despite the high conviction rates of drug-related cases we still have major cartels operating here and young men continue to join gangs and pursue a life of crime; goes to show that this is a failed system of justice. A system is only interested in providing lip service to the drug problem in the city."_

_"Oh, this is such liberal crap. Trying to blame the very people who are trying to do something about a problem." The mayor piped in as he came to the front of the crowd that had gathered around Leona and Sam. She gave a derisive grunt and said "it's funny how you have served 3 terms now and yet you are still 'trying' to do something about this problem. I guess the problem lies in the fact that Bertolucci has deep pockets and gambling is an expensive habit..."_

_"LEONA!!" Sam yelled and she walked out of the room. Sam turned around and apologised to Ruby and her father. "Women like her always have a mouth on them" the mayor had expounded. Sam just pursed his lips and followed his wife._

_"I can't believe you are on their side," Leona said as Sam stopped the car in front of their apartment._

_"Them? Where do you even come up with this stuff? I had told you that you needed to back out of the Jackson case" Sam said infuriated._

_"Yes, Sam, let's ignore what's happening around us in this city and focus on our careers? What happened to you, Sam?" she replied sharply._

_"I just figured that I could help more people by being something more than just another badly paid public defender. Leona, I want this for us, I want to do all those things you want but there is a time and place for it" Sam tried explaining himself forlornly._

_"Sam, how can you even expect me to be okay with this? How are you even justifying this?" said Leona, looking offended._

_"I want you to be happy for me and just be a supportive wife rather than someone on an evangelical mission" Sam replied with a rising annoyance in his voice._

_"Sam, you can't say this. How can I be happy when you want to go against everything you stood for is leaving you? What is it to be happy about? That you successfully managed to cover the gambling addict mayor's ass by sending a kid to the prison where he was murdered?” she continued acutely._

_The only warning that Sam saw was a complete hot white flash of anger in front of his eyes. As he opened his eyes he saw that Leona's face turned to one side. As she raised her face to face him, he could make out the red mark of his hand on the brown skin of her cheek. He saw her get up and slowly walk out of the car and towards their building. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bottom of his palms tiredly on them. He parked the car and went up the stairs, as he tried to knock on the door it opened. He saw Leona sitting on the couch near the window, looking out. He went and sidled next to her, gingerly placing his hand onto her shoulder. To his surprise, Leona moved into his touch. Powered by this he nuzzled his face into her hair, taking in her smell and the warmth that graduated from her. His lips found her shoulder where he placed gentle kisses, when he heard a gentle sob escape her. He stopped and pulled himself away from her. He then placed his hands on her arms and turned her around. She turned without much protest and he saw her tear stained face. He couldn't look at her red-rimmed eyes and hid his face by looking down. "I didn't mean to..." She placed a finger on his lips and Sam looked up. She crashed their lips together with desperation. At first, Sam was stunned but then as he felt her soft lips on his, he opened his mouth to allow her warm tongue to invade his. Sam caught her face in his hands, refusing to let go of her face. She, in turn, caught his collar pulling him closer to her. Sam felt the desperate urge that was coursing through them. The need for contact with skin was making itself apparent with every passing minute as though knowing that things were falling apart and this was their last attempt to keep them together. They broke the kiss for air and Leona tried to push Sam out of his jacket. He got up and removed his jacket and Leona's hands moved towards his pants. Sam felt her desperation to feel his skin and he got out of his clothes. He knelt in front of her and she enveloped her arms around him. Sam pulled her off the couch and they both crashed on the floor. They both knew that this wasn't the solution to their troubled marriage. Sam pushed her out of her gown and revelled in the warmth of her skin. "Sam, take me," she said and Sam complied. They both felt a similar exhilaration that a driver felt driving a car down the cliff. Those few moments in the air before the car plummets to its inevitable crash._

"It’s here," her voice pulled him out of the pit of his memory. His mum placed a kiss on his forehead wishing him goodnight as Leona helped her with her stuff out. He saw her come back and sit next to him. Sam felt his throat go dry and then they rode in silence towards her house.  "Thank you for the lift," she said.

"Thanks for waiting with mum so late," Sam said, smiling at her. She looked out of the window and Sam couldn't take the heavy silence. This silence had become a third person in their relationship. He was trying hard to keep both his hands on the wheel rather than slipping one of them and placing it on her hand that was idly placed near the shift gear. There was a time in his life when talking to Leona was the second easiest thing in the world, and first was reaching out and touching her soft mocha skin. He cleared his throat and Leona looked at him and said “it’s okay, no need to make an effort to break the silence. Sometimes it is better to ride in silence than say hurtful things to each other."

Sam let out a small sad laugh "You always know what to say."

"Well not always, I have been told that I need to know where to keep my mouth shut." She said bitterly. Sam's hand tightened his grip on the wheel, knowing all too well that he had said those words to her.

Finally, the journey came to an end and Leona was opening the door of the car even before it stopped. She got out and said, "Thank you so much". She almost ran into the building and Sam looked down at her quickly vanishing form. Just then his eyes fell on a Manila packet on the floor right where Leona had been. He picked it up and sprinted toward the now closing door. He came inside and saw the elevator door closing and just then he put in his hand in between the doors to open them. He saw Leona looking at him with her mouth wide open. He waved the folder at her and she reached to take it. Sam didn't know what got into him, but he pulled it out of her reach and she looked at him bewildered. He once again lowered the folder in front of her and this time, Leona caught it tightly. Sam pulled her close into his arms. Her bewildered eyes looked up at him and he placed a gentle hand on the side of her face. He lowered his head and placed a tender kiss on her open lips. At first, she pushed at him but later she pushed her hands into his hair. She moaned into Sam's mouth and Sam pulled her even closer. The familiar warmth of her mouth made him moan into the kiss as well. The lift came to a halt as they broke for air. Sam saw the look of horror of their actions dawn upon Leona and she pushed him and got out of the lift. Not knowing what he was doing, Sam followed her out. He saw her getting inside her flat and locking the door. He banged on the door of her room and her intercom buzzed to life where she said: "Sam, please go home."

Just then Sam's phone buzzed. He picked up to see a pic of him and Ruby smiling into the camera coming on. It was a call from Ruby.


	14. Chapter 14

Castiel had been thinking of his day, especially his chat with Leona; somehow he trusted her. She seemed like someone who trusted people, even though it had hurt her in the past. The thing that appealed to him the most was that she wanted to find the truth, unlike his brother for whom the truth did not matter. For him Castiel was innocent, no matter what the reality was; if only Castiel was so easy on himself. Every night sleep was a luxury; he hated the voices in his head that repeated each and every horrible memory and then those inconclusive gaps in his memories which left him with more questions than answers. When Cain had come into his cell letting him know it was time for his judgement, a part of Castiel’s mind was actually glad to know that his miserable existence was about to be put to an end.  Just as Castiel had felt the icy hands of death grip him, the handsome warden had swooped in to rescue him. The doctor had said that he did not need any medicines tonight as she was keeping him here for observation only. He found himself pacing up and down his small room and just then he looked across from his window where he could see the perfect V shaped silhouette of officer Winchester. Castiel really liked the distraction that Dean Winchester was providing for him, with his green eyes, freckled face and full lips. Though he was sure that it was not just simple physical attraction that was pulling him closer towards the guy, there was certain magnetism about him which Castiel could not deny - they were being drawn towards each other. Castiel first had tried to explain it by telling himself that Dean was trying to save his own skin, and then he figured that maybe the fellow was suffering from a hero complex. However none of these explanations had stopped Castiel from liking this guy; every time Dean did something for him and looked at him with hurt in his eyes when Castiel said rude things in return, it made him realise that Dean was doing this for Castiel because he cared for him and nothing else. Castiel was confused as his brain could not figure out where he wanted this to go.Was he supposed to lead him on? Or was he supposed to push him away? The latter was becoming a challenge every time they came face to face.  He realised that the figure was now looking at him from the window and he quickly turned off the light. He could not do this to Dean, he was confused on too many fronts right now and he refused to pull Dean into the nightmare called his life. Castiel knew that if Dean came in right now he would not stop himself, he moved away from the window into the darkness of the room. He saw the light go off in the Warden’s office and just then he heard footsteps coming towards his room.He saw the door was slightly pushed open and Castiel saw a hand and recognised it as Dean´s. Just then he saw himself catching Dean’s hand and pulling him inside the room. Castiel soon lost control when Dean slammed him against the wall next to the door. Castiel could feel his breath on his lips as Dean pressed himself on top of him, almost crushing Castiel’s wrist under his grip. Castiel looked into his green eyes and saw there was passion and hesitation. His warm breath, quivering lips and his body pressed hotly against Castiel's, was sending Castiel in an ecstatic high. He closed the distance between them; at first Dean seemed hesitant, but Castiel managed to slip his upper lip between Dean's lips. Dean eagerly opened his mouth allowing Castiel's tongue in. He let out a moan that sent a shiver through Castiel. Dean let go of his grip of Castiel's hands and moved them under his shirt so that he could feel his warm skin. As Dean’s hands made contact with Castiel’s skin, he wrapped his hands around Dean’s neck without breaking the kiss. They both crashed onto the bed and Castiel was above him when he broke the kiss earning an agitated moan from the man below. He pressed a hand down to indicate Dean to stay down and opened his shirt all the while not breaking the eye contact. He traced Dean's tanned and well-toned skin with his pale hand. He saw the man writhe under him as Dean pushed forward to get more of Castiel's touches. He reached at the hem of Dean's pants and felt the man under him hitch a breath. He grinned at him lasciviously and jerked the belt off. 'Cas…’ is all that Dean managed to utter when he deftly pulled Dean's pants down. "I've never had the opportunity to properly thank you" Castiel said in his gravelly voice as he knelt down looking at Dean's throbbing erection. Castiel looked up to see Dean whose cheeks were flushed red. He licked the tip of Dean's penis, making the man crash his head back onto the bed. He licked across the length of the dick and saw that Dean was digging his hand into the sheets. He wrapped his hand around it and then swallowed Dean completely. A moan escaped the man and he looked down to see Castiel looking at him through lidded eyes. He had managed to open his own pants to release his painfully erect penis. Castiel felt Dean's hand in his hair, pulling, making Castiel bob his head up and down faster, all the while stroking himself at the same time. He felt Dean tightening his grip on his hair and Castiel looked up at him: "I'm going to come", he said breathlessly. Castiel took his free hand and stroked Dean's balls; the man threw back his head, releasing Castiel's hair that he had caught in his hands. Castiel removed Dean's dick from his mouth and immediately felt the hot cum on his face. He came even harder himself, making a mess on the floor.

\-------- 

The rain continued to pour silently outside her window; the raindrops looked like little drops of gold as they filtered through the yellow street lamp. She was trying to push away the feeling of Sam's lips on hers, the feeling of his arms enveloping her and that sense of belonging and a strange feeling of normalcy filling her insides. She had never felt so right ever since their divorce.  
Her phone rang, thankfully pulling her out of her memory, but it only made her realise how cold her reality was. She answered the phone. "Hey there boss, didn't think you would be up so early, it's only 7am," Ash replied surprised.  
"Well, things kept me up" she replied noncommittally. “I think we should speak to Castiel's doctor" she continued.  
"Oh, about that. Dr. Zeke has agreed to meet us in about 2 hours" Ash replied.  
"That's great, send me his address and I will see you  there. Oh no, can you please pick me up? My car gave out like 2 weeks ago" she said, remembering that her car had refused to start and she could not find time to take it to a mechanic. She finished showering and having breakfast, all the while thinking of the case. There were certainly discrepancies and there were corners that the police had not looked at. For example Mrs Thorne who had shared the interview with them had mentioned it to the police as well, but it was not pursued further. The interview, as it turned out, was inside one of the pen drives that was password protected, and Ash had told her that he would get it opened by today, another item on her checklist. So far Thorne's was the only case that had showed any new light on the case. She had researched on the other victim, Dr. Guy Preston, and found out that he was a guy who had been on top of his game. He had come to public view when he had managed to come into the public spotlight for his vociferous support to stem cell research. The man had no family and was born an orphan who was raised by the church and later adopted by a Swedish couple that owned a lesser known company called Genesis. Guy took over the company's reins and pulled his company out of bankruptcy, thanks to a revolutionary new medicine for liver disease. He supported the stem cell research in every way possible from funding lobbying groups to offering students scholarships to pursue stem cell research outside the country. Her phone ringing brought her head out of the files and her notes, and she answered it immediately. Ash replied "come on down, I'm here".

She packed her stuff in her bag and left the room with her cursory check on things. She walked out of the corridor towards the lift and then felt her face redden and took the stairs instead. As she came down, Ash was standing there with a black Italian scooter. She stopped in her steps, smiled at him and went to sit behind in silence.

_Her mind went back to the time when it was her first summer in the city. She had just finished tidying up the house for which Sam was supposed to help her, but he had left early in the morning when Dean had called him._

_As she settled down with a book and some warm tea, her phone rang. "Come on down, I have a surprise for you" Sam said excitedly._

_“What is it?" she replied, not matching his excitement._

_"I know you are angry, but come on, please come down" he said pleadingly to her. She rolled her eyes and put on her pants to see what the whole excitement was about. As she arrived downstairs, she saw Sam with a stupid grin on his face, he pointed his eyes downwards. She saw he was holding a Honda Elite scooter and said, “All your travelling woes are over; you do not need to run behind the bus or whatever. You can now drive this instead" Sam said, beaming at her. She knew that Sam had been worried about her travelling the buses late at night, and she refused to wait for Sam as he was always late._

_"I don't know how to ride this thing" she stated plainly._ _  
_ _"Don't worry, it's easy, I will teach you!" Saying this, he threw a helmet in her direction. She let out an awkward laugh and said, "No, I don't think so."_

_She began to walk back to their building when he went and caught her hand, pulling her back towards the scooter. "Come on, it will be fun" he said pulling at her hand and making her sit down. He sat behind her and placed his hands on hers._

_"So the one on the right is the clutch that shifts the gears, and the one on the left controls the brakes. It's simply like a bike, just that it runs on a motor” he said, explaining everything  to her; then he started the scooter. At first it wasn't difficult, as Sam was almost driving it. She felt herself gaining confidence and saw that Sam was only slightly holding on the handles._

_"Let's take it for a spin, meet mom and come back" he whispered in her ears. She moved the scooter on to the road in the middle of the traffic. She felt all the eyes training on to her and many of them seemed pointed. Their neighbourhood was much better since they lived in the art district, but as they moved closer to the business district and then towards the well-off parts of the city, she saw that people seemed to be pointing towards them._

_"Oh God, Sam, people are looking" she said to Sam over the noise of the scooter._

_"Oh, that's fine, they just have never seen a pretty woman on a  scooter" he said, nuzzling his head in the crook of her neck._

_"Stop it, I'm driving. You know there aren't many interracial couples I have seen in the city" she said, trying to focus on the road._

_"Oh come on, what do you mean?" Sam asked, pulling himself slightly away from her._  
_"I mean, that maybe couples like us are frowned upon. And somehow people seem to think it's my fault" she said, stopping at a red light and trying to look away from all the glares._  
_"Oh, of course it's your fault, stealing a bright young lawyer away from all the single white females with your black curls, chocolate coloured skin, almond eyes and with an amazing sense of humour," he said, pulling her closer and looking around at all the people staring at them._ _  
_ "Turn right" he said in his sexy breathy voice. Something spurred inside her heart by Sam's gesture and she zoomed towards the park.

 _"Whoa, girl we aren't supposed to go into the park in a scooter,” he said, holding on to her tightly._  
_"What? Oh no!" she screamed, looking back at Sam with a guilty expression._  
_"Oh that's fine, watch out!" Sam said and they both crashed into the lake._  
_"Look who we have here" said a familiar voice behind them as they tried to get out of the lake._  
_"Dean, quit being a jerk and help me get her out", Sam said._  
_"What the hell were you two thinking, riding a bike in the middle of the park?" he said, pulling Leona up._  
_"Are you okay?" Sam asked holding her by her shoulders and giving her a good once over. He saw that she couldn't place her foot completely on the ground. He picked her up and went towards his mom's café. He made her sit on one of the outside benches and saw that there was a scrape on her left calf. He was cleaning it meticulously when Leona asked him, "You could have moved out of harm's way. Your two feet were touching the ground"_  
_"What? And miss all the fun?" he replied simply._ _  
_ "Sam...." She took his face in his hands and kissed him.

The scooter stopped suddenly and Leona almost crashed on Ash. "Sorry, boss, just  getting used to this thing" he said, going on about how he had found this scooter and something else. Leona's mind was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong with her and Sam. Had all those words been nothing more than lies, if yes, then why did he lie to her? She wasn't a rich girl? There wasn't anything to benefit from her? Did that mean she had made him choose between her and his career? Had she done this because she was desperate for a win? Had she been this petty? Had she purposely tried to blow the Jerome Jackson case as she couldn't take the fact that Sam had defeated her and had got aptly rewarded for it? But then Jerome wasn't a hoax, something she had made up. All she had ever asked for was that Sam ask for a juvie sentence for him rather than prison. She closed her eyes, trying to quieten the voices in her head.

She felt her head jerk forward and heard Ash say, "Hey boss, we are here". She got down from the scooter and looked at the nondescript building as they entered it. The doctor's office was located on the first floor. They entered the practice, and saw that it was deliberately kept bland and devoid of any color, except for a painting of a meadow on one of the walls so as to not excite the patients.   
The glass door in the corner of the waiting room showed the initials of Dr E.H Brooke's. As she was reading the name, the door was opened by a middle aged blonde fellow with piercing blue eyes. "Mr Ashford and Miss Hornstaff, so nice to meet you, good morning. Please come in" he said warmly.    
"Thank you for agreeing to meet us so early in the morning" Leona said, looking around the office which had a couch, a study table, a water cooler and a library right behind the doctor.  
"Oh please, that's nothing; also, I was happy that someone decided to seek me out in this matter. Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners, would you like to have some water? I'm afraid I can't offer you coffee since only my assistant Anna knows how to use the machine" he said, offering two glasses of water to each of them from the cooler.  
"Thank you, but what did you mean with the last part?" Leona asked, moving forward in her chair.  
"The police only took the prescriptions I had offered him and did some basic enquiries.  And I never heard from the defence either, but then one can't really expect a lot from the court provided lawyers" he said, moving a pen in his fingers.  
"Can we say that you were not satisfied with the way the investigation was conducted?"  Ash asked him.  
"I'd rather say that I have my concerns about it. The prosecution kept flipping from Castiel being a maniac to someone who had killed in cold blood or a premeditated fashion. I mean, only one of them can be true, right?" he replied matter of factly.  
"I couldn't agree with you more, we are trying to gather some background information on Castiel Novak" Leona replied genially.  
"I'd be more than happy to help" he said amiably.  
"Great, so what was Castiel suffering from?" she began.  
"Well, he came to me with a recommendation from one of my assistants. He was suffering from headaches and blackouts. He informed me that he had a prior history of epilepsy and was given medication regarding the same" the doctor replied.  
"So what did you prescribe him? Also, did you run any tests before you prescribed the medication?" Leona asked.  
"I did prescribe him some anti-epilepsy medication and some sleep medication - owing to his prior history I was sure this was the case. It is common among patients of epilepsy to see a relapse, especially when their schedules are as erratic as that of Castiel. He was suffering from absence seizures, where a person becomes unconscious for short periods of time", Dr. Brooks explained.  
"According to the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it shows that on his second visit here you changed the medication, why was that?" she asked.  
"Castiel still complained about blackouts and he seemed sleep deprived, so my next move was to increase the strength of the medication. So I did exactly that and gave him stronger medication that would help him sleep better" he said, handing them the prescriptions.  
"Why did he stop coming to you? Also, why did you not ask him to go into therapy?" Ash inquired.   
"Well, most of the time when patients are doing great, they do not usually come back. I asked my assistant to make a call and check on him, she did not report anything, so I figured he was doing fine. I did recommend therapy especially during the second visit when he complained about the blackout again. But Castiel refused it straight out, you see, a lot of patients are not very comfortable with psychotherapy, so I did not insist on it" the doctor justified.  
"Do you agree with the prosecution that Castiel was bipolar?" Leona examined further.  
"I cannot say that concretely, I read what the prosecution psychologist said, that Castiel was suffering not from epilepsy but dissociative seizures, which could be a linked to bipolar disorder. He was however suffering from depression, which makes him vulnerable for both those possibilities of Bipolar disorder or epilepsy,” the doctor expounded.

Leona sat there, trying to process the information that the doctor had just laid on her. There were a few revelations and more questions. She had learned that Castiel did have depression and he refused to talk about it. But then, why would he not try to seek out help? The doctor had also checked on him about his meds, so why did Castiel not report about recurring blackouts?   
"One last question, doctor, Castiel had tried to commit suicide before he was arrested, were you contacted during this episode?" she asked, looking at him.  
"Yes, in fact my office was contacted during that terrible incident; unfortunately, I was in Vienna at that time, so my assistant provided all the information they needed on the topic. By the time I made it back, it was too late for him" the doctor said with genuine regret in his eyes.

Leona concluded that she could not get any more answers from the doctor and needed to move to the next part of this puzzle and trying to speak to Anna to figure out how Castiel was feeling, especially since she was the one who was contacted by the hospital when he tried to kill himself. "Thank you so much for all your help; I was hoping to also speak to your assistant Anna."   
"Of course you can, I think she must be in by now," the doctor said, rising from his chair.  

As they moved out of the doctor's office they saw that the earlier empty desk of the nurses was now occupied by two nurses, one blond and the other a redhead. Leona went ahead and spoke to the red head named Anna, "Hi Anna, can we speak with you in private for a moment?" Leona said, reading her name batch. Anna looked up at them with a sense of alarm which she then seemed to change into quiet composure.   
"Yeah, sure" she replied a little hesitantly and left the desk. She guided them toward a room situated right next to the nurses’  table. It was a small break room for the nurses and Anna was sitting down, her hands twitching.  
"Hello Anna, we are here to speak to you about a patient of Dr Brooks, Mr Castiel Novak?" Ash said, looking at her smiling. Leona was gonna let Ash take the lead on this one, since the guy had a way with the ladies. Anna looked up at them and then moved closer towards Ash and she held his hands and said "Oh,  I am so glad that you are here. I was sure that Cassie was innocent."  
Both Leona and Ash were a little taken aback from this reaction and Anna realised that she was confusing them and she explained herself, "Oh I am sorry, I need to introduce myself to you guys. I am Anna Milton, the cousin of Castiel and Gabriel Novak. Castiel and his two brothers were staying with me and my father after their parents passed away in an accident."  
Leona came to know that Anna was the chatty type and decided to let her go on, she nudged Ash and he asked "Anything you can tell us about your relationship to Castiel and his medical history will be really helpful to us."  
"God's gift is what my uncle and aunt used to call Castiel, they were so happy to have him. Then he and his brother moved in with us after their parents died. Cassie was always the quiet and brooding type, but he always had the kindest of hearts. He was the apple of the eye of his two brothers and he was devoted to them as well. The boys were always up to something, be it sneaking out to concerts or running off to the fair...ah, those were such good times. Then one day all of a sudden, dad found those horrid magazines under Cassie's bed, he became so angry that he hit Cassie across his face so hard that he fell down right there. I had never seen father so angry, he pulled Castiel down the stairs and I saw Luci coming out of the kitchen to see what had happened. Castiel was just lying there on the floor, and I saw Lucifer was shaking and father was standing there saying terrible things to Cassie that he was unholy, an abomination and that he would punish all of us for this. Gabriel came home just in time when father was about to hit Castiel again...they had such a huge fight...both of them yelling and screaming at each other. Father left the house and Gabe went upstairs with Castiel, he was so angry with Lucien for not stopping father. Little did I know that was the last time I ever saw Castiel and Gabriel for the next 12 years. Castiel never broke contact with us, he kept writing from California to both me and Lucian. I used to reply to him, but Luci never did" Anna said, lost in her recollection.  
"So Luci did not like them?" Leona piped in when she saw that Anna had stopped talking.  
"Oh no, nothing like that, he always just felt like they had never included him in their decision about going away. But I always thought that he somewhere felt guilty of not being able to stand up to his uncle and defend Cassie. I can see he never forgave himself for not being able to be a good brother and now he is trying to be a good nephew,” she clarified.  
"Go on" Ash prodded her again.   
"I was very happy to know Cassie was coming back, but then felt bad about it when I learned about his ....friend. I met Cassie after a month since he had come back; I asked Luci but he just left for work and I didn't tell father about it at first. We kept meeting after that and then one such evening while we were having dinner, he just collapsed on the floor. I checked for his pulse and found that he was breathing, I realised that he was having a seizure. This had happened in the past when he was 12, so I recommended Dr. Brooks to him,” she said, recounting the incident.  
"Yeah, Dr Brooks told us about it, were you the one who kept an eye on him after the doctor changed his medication?" Ash inquired.  
"Yes, he had asked me to keep an eye on him, it's a standard procedure that we do when we change medications for a patient. When I called, he did complain of headaches and loss of appetite which is not out of the ordinary. In fact I did ask the doctor for something to treat the loss of appetite when he insisted that Castiel did not need any more medication than necessary. I then helped him out with some home remedies and over the counter stuff," she clarified.  
Leona and Ash shared a glance at each other and that is when Ash's phone rang. He excused himself and went outside the door to take the call. "Anna, one last question, where were you when the police arrested Castiel?"  
She hesitated a little bit before she answered, "You know Cassie would never hurt a fly, but then Lucien is a good cop. I am sometimes so torn between the two. I was at the bible camp when they arrested him and I was there for his trial but Lucien just took the files from me and never asked me anything else". Leona noticed that a blush had creeped up Anna's pale cheeks when she had mentioned Lucian's name.

\------- 

Lucien sat there watching the swirl of smoke rising up. He looked down at the file of Lebron Walker, and wondered what had gotten into the DA's mind that he had asked to look into the case again before he filed the case. The facts were clear, the pastor had been injured and silverware was missing and the boy was found injured outside the back door of the church. Lucien knew that this didn't prove anything and yet he knew that this boy was done for. Just then Crowley, his partner on the case, barged in, "Look what I confiscated from one of the punks of the case we are working on" he produced a gold ring with a cross filled with red rubies and a circle of blue sapphires around it. Lucien immediately recognised the ring which belonged to Gideon's followers. He knew that neither the church nor the choir boys or their parents were a part of the group.   
"Did he tell you where he got it from?" he asked, examining the ring.  
"He tried to, but the details were very sketchy. So I figured you should sit with him and have one of your famous chats," Crowley smirked.  
Lucien Novak was known across the department as being the best interrogator who could crack some of the hardest criminals in the interrogation room. He followed Crowley towards the interrogation room, "the boy's name is George Robson, the privileged asshole type”. Lucien went into the room and saw the boy smirking at him. He turned the chair around and sat down heavily, saying,  "so what's with the jewellery?", producing the ring and putting it in front of him. "I don't know" the boy said chewing on his gum and inching his hand closer to the ring. Lucien caught his hand and pressed it hard and the boy let out a scream "What the fuck, dude?" Lucien didn't let go off his hand and said "listen punk, you better tell me where you got this from as I know sure as hell that you or your father aren't members of the group. Unless you want me to press charges of theft and keep your pretty ass in jail you better tell me." Lucian's voice was calm and cold and yet the boy had tears stinging in his eyes. "Okay, okay I got it from Lebron, he was wearing it that night,"  
"Did he just give it to you?" He pressed harder.  
"No, I ...ah...we beat it out of him" he said.  
"Good boy" he said, ruffling his hair as he stood up from the chair; the boy just held his hand nursing it.  
"You're a natural, I mean, that was amazing" Crowley said following him.   
"I need to speak to the boy, arrange for it, this is a big break" Lucien said.  
Crowley merely nodded and left him in a jiffy. They later found themselves in the juvenile home in the waiting room. Lebron was brought in and he looked a little taken aback seeing the two detectives, so much so that he inched a little backwards. The guard pushed him forward and Lucien rose up. He managed a small smile and calmly asked the boy to sit down. Lebron  sat down immediately and looked up with fear in his eyes; as he was about to say something, Lucien interrupted him. "Why didn't you say anything that day when we arrested you? Why were you quiet?"  
The boy seemed to have gained his composure and he looked away from him.  
"Answer him, lad,” Crowley said, standing behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Does it even matter what I say, you is gonna listen to them white boys" the boy replied, trying and failing to keep the anger out of his voice.  
"I'm here, aren't I? So why don't you tell me that the choir boys hit you?" Lucien replied calmly, staring at him with his glacial blue eyes piercing into the boy's head. Lebron began to tap his feet and then he looked at him and said "How did you know about that?"   
"Does that matter?" Lucien retorted back.  
The boy looked down and Crowley shifted behind him but he heard Lucien tell him to back off. When he looked up, he had tears in his eyes and said "they took the ring from me and also stole my stash," Lucien straightened up and pulled his chair closer. "Stole your stash? You were selling drugs near the Church?" Crowley let out a small whistle.  
"For whom?" Lucien continued. The boy looked down and began to shift in his seat and that's when Lucien placed his hands over his. "Boy, look at me, you are here and will remain here if you don't speak up now" he said earnestly, looking at him. The weird warmth in Lucian's voice alarmed Crowley as well. The boy looked up and saw the officer's eyes lined with concern. He swallowed hard and began "I was asked by Tiny, to go and deliver the package to someone who will come there who will have a rabbit's foot keychain around 8. I was waiting there for the customer to come and pick up his stash that's when I saw these four guys coming out. Three of them had lost their shit and one of them called 'Jon' crying like a girl. But there was the fourth guy he comes out and he has this shit eating grin on his face. As he came out he's cleaning his bloodied hands. He looks at one of the guys, the big one, he takes this bat and shatters the camera. Then he yelled at Jon to cut it out and says the priest had it coming. I decide to bail when the big guy catches me, and the leader comes over and dangles the rabbit foot keychain in front of my eyes. I slowly nod my head and search my jacket. I found the stash and gave it to the guy, that's when this asshole catches my hand and turns it over to see the ring. The bastard says nice ring and I pull out the hand from his grip. The big guy caught me from behind and this guy pulls my hand again saying but it's on the wrong hand. He pulls the ring and says to the rest of them, come on guys, we got our man. Let's be heroes and then they beat the shit outta me." He looked down again.  
Lucien pushed himself back in the chair "So the stash was for George, hmm…  kinda explains why they found him in a drug bust over the other side of the river" Crowley observed. Lucien trained his eyes back to the boy, "I'm curious - how did you get the ring?"  
The boy shifted in his chair and adjusted himself again and said, "Tiny gave it to me for safekeeping." Lucien let  out a snort and the boy replied irately "look, we found this car that looked new near the woods. There was nobody in there, so we go near it. Tiny picks the lock and we  see that the key is inside. We start the car and take it for a spin. Then we hear something rolling near Tony's feet and he tells me to check it out. I see the ring and tell him about it. He tells me to stay down as he sees cops. The cops approach the car, and I hide the ring. They ask us a few questions and ask us to move along. Tiny was worried cos he was packing and he says get down and meet me later. I think Tiny wanted to take the car to Jamal, he has a garage."  
Crowley was looking at Lucien who seems lost in thought. He cleared his throat; Lucien looked up and said, "We need to find this car."


	15. Chapter 15

Sitting there looking at the fast filling board of evidence she reached for her coffee cup and found herself staring at an empty cup. Leona groaned at this and walked to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. As she opened the cabinet and picked up the coffee jar, she realised that it was empty too. Just then she saw Jess's message on the fridge that told her she was out of coffee. She heard her stomach growl, making her realise that she had not got a proper meal in the last 12 hours; the long waking hours had not helped either. _I would kill for some waffles and coffee,_ she thought. All of sudden she was struck by an idea and smiled to herself as she quickly went to the bathroom to change out of her clothes. A few moments later she found herself inside her car driving towards the Paradise Café. She heard something rolling behind her and saw that she had forgotten to take her groceries upstairs. She rolled her eyes and thought about the time when she didn't need to worry about groceries. Sam always had a habit of doing groceries on his way back from work. 

_She had gotten up with a terrible headache thanks to another argument which later turned into another screaming match. Leona got out of her bed to see no signs of Sam on the couch, she figured he must have left for office. She went into the kitchen to get herself some coffee and opened the cabinet to see that the jar was empty. She kept looking at the empty jar and finally broke down. She knew that it wasn't just empty coffee jar, it was more than that. It was about the fact that Sam had just left without saying goodbye, it was about when he said that her head was in the clouds. What really pricked her was when he said that this wasn't a marriage and the sad part was that she knew that too. They both were too stubborn to make this work. Unlike her parents, none of them had come to console the other person. Was her marriage falling apart? Was she not going to do something about it?  Just then she heard the door open and heard Sam. "Jesus, what happened?” he said, coming to his knees near her. She looked up at his concerned eyes and saw that he had got the groceries that were there on the table and he had spilled the two drinks that he had brought. She looked at him smiling, feeling all the worries about her marriage were being put to rest._

_"Leona, what happened?" he asked again._

_"Nothing, I was feeling nauseous" she said, smiling through her tears. She pushed herself forward onto him, ending the distance between them by sealing their lips together. God, Sam was a good kisser; he put one of his hands in her hair and the other around her waist raising her up from where she was kneeling near the fridge. She cupped his face with her hands, feeling the light stubble on the tips of her fingers. She couldn't help but smile into the kiss, this was evidence that they still cared for each other. He pulled her closer on to his lap and she removed his sweat shirt. They stopped kissing to catch a breath and looked into each other’s eyes. They both stared at each other as though to see how much they both needed each other. Leona felt Sam's hand pushing up her long T-shirt and she let out a moan so delicious that Sam let out growl at it. And within moments Leona found herself pinned under Sam, enjoying his weight on top of her. As Sam entered her, she felt her hands grip tightly onto Sam's broad shoulders knowing that they would leave marks later._

The car almost skidded to a halt as Leona snapped out of her reverie. She swore under her breath, got out of the car and began walking towards the central park. It had been days since she had thought about Sam in that way. She looked around as she entered the park, there were birds chirping, she saw a few people sitting on the benches, some were cycling and others were jogging. It felt as though there was this whole breed of people who got up early and pretended to be in some energy drink commercial. She reached the cafe and saw that it was open and the sweets counter looked especially full. She bent down to see wonderful delicacies on display, from muffins to cinnamon rolls. As she was going through the display she saw a pair of hazel eyes looking at her from the other side. Leona recognised immediately who those eyes belonged to as she had stared into them for hours on end at a point in her life.

"Sam! What are you doing here?" she asked a little too fast.

"Good morning Leona, it's my mom's café I can be here if I want" he replied smiling at her. Leona closed her eyes, thinking why the hell she had to speak out loud whatever came to her mind. She opened her eyes to see Sam still carrying that big grin that showed the lovely dimples in his cheeks; he was holding a muffin on a plate. 

"It's your favourite," he said and just then Leona felt a hand on her shoulder. 

"Sammy, what are you doing here?" Dean said looking between them.

Sam's smile vanished and he replied "Nothing Dean, I just thought I should help out mom." 

"Wow, really? Have you asked the missus about this? Anyways, Leona and I would like some coffee and pie to go with that muffin" he said.

She saw Sam wipe the smile from his face and he almost scowled looking at Dean's arm that had snaked around her waist. Leona was looking down in a desperate attempt to hide her creeping blush. 

Sam placed the plate on the counter with a loud thud and then went on inside looking for his mother. Dean pulled Leona into the corner booth and she found herself  looking into those green eyes again. 

\------

Dean seemed to be on the moon and deep into doubt at the same time. The last few days had been an upheaval in his otherwise plain life. He had not only kind of worked on his feelings towards Castiel that night but also spent time closing down the isolation chambers and restocking the prison library. He had been busy and stressed  his brain working over multiple things, yet he had a stupid grin on his face when he reached his mother's café. Then he saw that Sam was there for some reason;  he had a twinkle in his eyes while speaking to the lady in front of him. He knew the only person that would make his brother smile like that. Dean went and placed a hand on Leona's shoulder, who was trying to hide a creeping blush. He pulled her away from his now frowning brother and took them towards her favourite table in the corner, near the window. They both sat down and he asked, "What was that all about?" She sat there, trying not to look up to face Dean;as he would have guessed the whole situation too quickly for her liking. That is when he asked her,  pointing at her face, "What did he say that led to the whole situation there?" She quickly put her hands on her cheeks in a desperate attempt to hide her blush. "Nothing happened", she replied too quickly. 

"Aha! That means something did happen, cos mister district attorney doesn't just show up to help out his mother out of the blue" he said, looking towards the kitchen. 

"Dean, please, I think this was just a coincidence" she said, desperately trying to get a change of the subject.

"Oh please, he's been coming every day for the last three days", he replied.

"Oh lord, I don't know what he is trying to do" Leona said, worriedly looking into the direction of the kitchen.

Then his mom came over and placed two cups of coffee on their table. They both thanked her and she went back to her work. Leona was busy moving her cup around when Dean caught her hand. She looked up and said, "He kissed me" and looked down again.

"Excuse me - what?" Dean asked incredulously. "Why would he do that?" 

"Because he's lost his mind, what the hell do I know?" Leona replied irritatedly.

"What do you mean he kissed you? When? How? Did he hurt you?" he asked, sounding worried.

"I was here helping your mom a few nights ago and he came to pick her up. He gave me a lift home and then...." she stopped, unable to continue any longer. "I don't know why he is doing this, maybe I should leave" she said, rising up from her chair, but Dean caught her hand. "Come on, it is okay, I'll talk to him and get him off your back. Don't leave the muffin,  or do you want some pie?" he said,  hesitatingly pushing it forward.

She pushed it back and smiled at him.  "Thanks, but this is just too much to ask of you" she said, pushing back the pie. 

"What's happening with you, how come you aren't helping Mary? Are you just coming back from work?" Leona said, looking at his uniform. Now it was Dean's turn to look down. He looked up again to see that Leona's eyebrows were so high that they were planning to leave her forehead. "Who is it? Oh God, I hope it's not Ellen, I mean she's like your mom's age" she said, quirking her mouth.

"What! No! No....It's not her" he replied.

After seeing that Dean wasn't going to give her the answer, Leona continued, "Wow, is it Benny?"

Dean rolled his eyes at this and said, "God Leona, just  stop!”

"Then tell me, cos I have a whole list in my head" she said, holding his hand.

"It's someone you know" he said, looking out of the window.

"Now who do I know who's in prison....Oh God no, whyyyyyyy" she said with realisation.

"Dean, come on, not him," Leona added crestfallen.

"Why not?" Dean retorted.

"Well, for starters, he's in prison, secondly he has allegedly killed 4 people, all of whom were his lovers or who fancied him" she explained. 

"You think he did that?" he asked indecisively.

"How does it matter to you? I mean, come on, even if he's innocent there might be someone who's killing people around him" she cautioned.

"Ha! That means there might be a chance that he is innocent" he said hopefully.

"Wait, did you not hear anything I said, he's dangerous Dean. Why are you doing this? Is this like a midlife crisis?" she asked exasperatedly.  

"Okay what is this? Seriously, do you like him or something?" she continued.

"I don't know okay, I don't know why I did what I did" he stated miserably.

“Well that was one thing I did not want to talk about, but I did find out this other thing. When Cas…Castiel” he corrected and continued “was in the infirmary, Ellen kept him for observation. She noticed that the guy has waking nightmares and then we kind of poked around and found that this is not something unusual for him. She looked at his medical history and she did not find anything that can cause this situation in his medications. When you spoke to him or his doctor did they tell you anything?”

“Hmm, not really, the doctor was not much help. All we did find out was Castiel’s history and I have not spoken to ‘Cas’ since I met his doctor. I would really appreciate if I can visit him again” she said, winking at him.

“Well, I would like to find out if he was on drugs or something so that we can treat him for that, and I think you need to get to the bottom of this. Something is not right here” he said, remembering the hurt look in Castiel’s beautiful azure eyes. That look pulled at Dean’s heart, as somewhere deep down he was starting to feel that maybe Castiel truly had no idea of what had happened. Or maybe Dean was somewhere desperately trying to justify his actions; that he did not just fall for a criminal, the very people he had been taught to detest. Dean sighed agitatedly, hating this indecisiveness. Just then, he  felt Leona’s warm hand upon his,  as  though knowing what was going through his mind,  Leona reached out and caught his hand in hers. "You and me both, my friend" she said, and he saw her staring outside the window. He saw her looking towards the slowly receding form of Sam with a kind of longing in her eyes. "We both don't know why we are doing the things that we are doing...”

\-------

Sam was upset, but he wasn't going to think about it. He had gone to his mom's café the third day in a row to help her out, in hopes of seeing Leona. Sam got out of his Prius and was making his way through the crowd towards the district attorney's office. The events of the morning had been swirling in his head; why was Dean doing this? Moreover, why was Leona doing this? Mostly he was angry with himself as to why he was spending his entire morning stressing about his elder (jerk) brother and his ex-wife having breakfast in the morning. He was now out of breath since he climbed the stairs to his office. Why was he so angry about all this, they had called it quits six, no - seven months ago. He had moved on and she had the full right to move on-  but he just wished it wasn't Dean. As he approached his office, he saw Jo get up from her chair and say something that he didn't completely understand. He was too busy feeling bad for himself. As he entered his office, he noticed someone sitting on the chair opposite to his. He immediately recognised the person and said, "Officer Novak, good morning, I was not expecting to see you so soon."

The man placed down the newspaper and got up from his seat saying, "good morning, Mr Winchester, sorry to come like this without an appointment. But I figured before I call it in, you need to know that I have found the perp who had assaulted the priest and run off with the silverware."

"What do you mean caught the guy, hadn't we already sent LeBron Walker in for that?" Sam asked, not getting what the officer meant.

"Well sir, some new evidence has come to light and we figured that we had the wrong guy in" Lucian replied, looking down.

"What...What do you mean?" Sam said, moving a hand across his forehead. 

“well sir, remember you told me to look into the case again and I did. Me and my partner came across a drug bust a few miles away from the city and we found George Robson. We brought him in for questioning and found out that he and  the rest of the choir boys had had a Clockwork Orange kind of situation, where all 4 of them attacked the pastor and made their way out. Walker was in fact standing outside the church, but after that the camera lost its feed; that  is when the actual crime happened. LeBron had come down there for a delivery to Mr Robson. One of the guys disengaged the camera and then they attacked Walker. It just didn't stop at that, the guys called the cops saying that they apprehended Walker. The cops went there, caught the guy, and the boys were heroes."

“What kind of delivery was Walker going to make?”

“He refuses to speak to us without some kind of assurance from the state.”

“Assurance? Is he crazy? We are doing him a favour reopening his case.”

“Sir, he knows he is staying whether or not he tells us the truth…”

“What do you mean? Anyways, we can't change the whole case because of what the accused has to say. Do we have anymore evidence?”

“Yes sir, turns out that Mr Robson stole Mr Walker's car and went on a joyride after the police left them. Not just that, when Robson was arrested in the drug bust, we found these with him," Lucian put forward a bunch of papers in front of him.

"What are these?"

“These are receipts from the pawn shops across the city where he disposed of the silverware from the church.”

Sam looked at the receipts carefully and knew what he had to do.

 


	16. Chapter 16

"Why don't you go ahead and arrest him?  What are you waiting for?" Dr Ellen said, looking at the figure of Cain sitting on one of the new benches in the playground, watching a slowly developing game of basketball between the inmates with their new gears.

"It is not that easy; right now, he may be charged with attempted assault, but I know that he and his friends are responsible for many deaths in this prison. He will go scot free or will be let off on the easier sentence. This won't help us, as that will put Castiel and others in danger. I need him to be held responsible for everything that he has committed so far in this prison. The Soldiers are a whole different breed of a gang that are raising questions about the safety of prisoners" he said, looking at the benches.        “Do you really think people care about prisoners and their safety?" Ellen asked.

"Well, I think the pattern of deaths I have researched so far is scary, seems like a lot of characters who could have proven to be a pain in the ass for people outside have been the ones who have been bumped off. Weems for example, who was going to talk to the FBI about his scam and the officials in the city government behind it, was found dead in his cell. Many of the supposed 'gangland hits' also follow the same pattern, I think the soldiers of God are working for people who are not just criminals, but some higher-ups in the society"  he said, looking at the pile of files on his desk.  "I do hope you know what you are doing, and I sincerely hope you are careful with this, son," Dr Ellen said exasperatedly. As Ellen left the room, Benny walked in with a smile on his face and said "Boss, your plan worked. Patrick Mulroney’s cellmate Jeff was complaining to me today that he hasn't got his mail. So I asked him what he could possibly have in his mail that he couldn't wait for. Jeff couldn't answer and looked  flustered, so I pressed on. Then he said that his daughter might write to him about her pregnancy. I laughed at this and said, you know reading other people's mail is considered a serious crime.  I reminded him that I knew he didn’t have a daughter,  certainly not one old enough to have a child of her own. I also asked him if his daughter knew about Lavina in prison, at which he fell onto his knees and said,  ‘please don't tell her or my mother about this!’. So I picked him up and asked, ‘why don’t  you tell me about who it is you pick up the mail for?’  And out came the answers", Benny finished.

"He is picking up the mail for his cellmate Patrick. Turns out most of the soldiers are not supposed to have any ties to their life outside. They generally recruit folks who have no one on the outside waiting for them. This guy Patrick has a daughter who is pregnant and has recently established contact with him and clearly, he has not let any of the Soldiers know," Benny explained.

"Why? " Dean asked.

"Well, the money is great, most Soldiers who do have families cut ties completely but the money reaches their families. So the family gets taken care off while they are still in prison. The only condition is that they do not speak to anyone in their families for their time of imprisonment", Benny explained.

"Great work Benny, now we have found some weak spots in the Soldiers. Let's talk to this guy and see if he can turn into a snitch" Dean said beaming, when his phone rang.

\------

"Where is this guy?" Leona asked herself thinking where Ash was and what was taking him so long. She began to wonder about what Dean had told her about Castiel's waking nightmares. She was sure that it had something to do with the murders. He was committing these murders and coming back home without being seen, but then she was reminded of the conversation she and Ash had where he referred to the case of this guy who killed his mother in law and had no memory of it at all. Just then, Ash came into the office and said, "Have you seen the news?" and threw the paper in her direction. "LeBron Walker Falsely Accused", the headline read. She looked up at Ash said, "what’s this got to do with us?"

"Boss, they acquitted the guy based on evidence of another camera that was on the other side of the road. Not to mention the first clue they got was when of one the kids who caught Walker was caught in a drug bust on the other side of the town, but this is the part that caught my eye. We should check out if there were any alternative camera angles that may have caught something on our man too. There is that case of Benjamin and the musician, we can even check it out for Guy's house too."

"Hmmm, that is right, we can check it out. Also, speaking of Benjamin, any luck with his interview?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we broke the code but then turns out the file is heavily encrypted as well", Ash replied.

"Wow, that is a lot of secure information that he has in there, you know what - we should speak with his manager to see why he wanted that interview after Benjamin's death. I was also thinking of speaking to Castiel, trying to find out if Benjamin or John ever spoke of each other to him", Leona pondered.

"I will try to find out about the manager and speak to Castiel. Meanwhile, you can visit the crime scenes and find out about this camera angles thing", she ordered.

"We should get a lead or two in place before our meeting with Gabriel," Ash said as he walked out of the door. Leona took the newspaper and read it carefully.

The D.A  was speaking to the press when he informed them that Walker had been wrongly arrested and that in fact he was one of the victims of the assault by the (now) accused George Robson, son of the of major realtors in the city, and his three friends. "The boys had committed the assault on both father Modigliani and Walker under the influence of drugs. Not just that the boys had tried selling the silverware that they stole from the church" officer Novak said. When asked about the fiasco with Walker, Mr Winchester replied, "The city will be paying all the reparations to Mr Walker and his family. On the whole  issue I would like to say, we all make mistakes, but it  is never too late to do the right thing."

She left with a smile ghosting her face as she walked down to take a cab. Jess had found out where Brady’s manager, Mr Garth Wilson, was. Half an hour later, she found herself at the recording studio called Studio 54, waiting for Garth, who was with a new talent called  Monster Street Master. She waited at the reception for the fellow to come out. She heard a familiar song, 'That’s the way Love goes’, wafting through one of the recording rooms. This was a different rendition than the one she had taught Sam how to feel the groove to. 

_ They were both quite happy that day, Sam had won a big case where the city had to pay homeless folks whose houses were illegally torn down, and provide them with shelter. Leona had decided to make him his favourite dinner, corn chilli. As she was putting the final touches to the chilli, she heard someone turn on the music. She came out to see that Sam was waiting there with open arms. "Welcome home, Mr Finch,' she smiled.  _

_ "Really? You will quote ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’?”, Sam chided. _

" _ Come on, that closing statement was amazing" she replied. _

_ "It was, wasn't it?" Sam said, smiling at her. _

_ Leona kissed him on the lips and began moving to the music. _

" _ The dinner will be done in 15mins. Now come on here and show me some of your moves, Mr Counsellor" she said, pulling him close, making sure Sam was holding her waist and throwing his coat jacket on the sofa. _

_ "No Leona, there is no way I can match your moves," Sam said, backing off. _

_ "That's nonsense. Everyone can move, you just need to feel the groove" she said, pulling him closer. Sam began to move awkwardly when she turned around and put her hand on his chest. "you're worrying too much about how you may be looking.. Just close your eyes and just listen." _

_ Leona felt him tighten his grip around her waist. He began moving with her; for that one moment, they were one body and  two souls. "You said we had 15mins," he said huskily in her ear and she just nodded. She felt Sam's hands unbuttoning her shorts and said, "This isn't how I planned the evening...." _

" _ Shhh, just feel the groove" Sam murmured; she turned around and Sam picked her up. The next thing she remembered was the crash of a vase on the table as Sam decided to have her right there. _

_ " _ So,  miss Hornstaff? I'm so sorry to keep you waiting" a tall, pale and skinny man came towards her. “I am Garth Wilson, Mr Brady's former manager."

"Thank you so much for your time," she replied. "Is this your new gig?"

"It's not a gig; Monster Street Master is the new sound on the R&B scene. He is going to be big. You see, I can feel the new rhythm; this fella is going to be big on the east coast scene. You know, I have an eye for raw talent, and shape it to perfection."

"Kind of like John Brady? He was the new kid on the block too?"

"Yeah absolutely, he was the best. To be honest, he was gone way too soon" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Do you know anyone who would have wanted Brady dead?”

"No. Brady was a simple guy, and everyone liked him. He was fun to be with."

"Then what's your theory?  Do you agree with the police theory?"

"Well, Miss Hornstaff - what can I say, it seems like the most plausible one," he said simply.

"Did you know that Brady had done an interview with En Vogue?"

She saw Garth's face change expressions. "Oh, that" and he looked around as if he could no longer look at Leona.

After a moment of silence, he said "How did you know about that one? It was never out."

"You seemed a little disturbed by this information" 

"Oh no, come on that's..."

"Garth, I know that it's something big and if it's something criminal and you know about it, you become a co-conspirator."

"NO!!!" He jumped from his chair.

"Listen, I know this much: Brady had a troubled childhood. He was an orphan and this interview was supposed to be a Tell-All Interview. He told me that he needed to get it off his chest. He met that Benjamin from En Vogue. He told me this after the interview."

"Why did you go to Benjamin's widow after Brady's death?" 

“I was just doing what Brady had asked me to do. I remember he had told me about this just before a concert; if I remember correctly, that was the day he met Castiel. He had told me to speak to Benjamin’s widow for the interview. I remember that evening, I was so darn angry with that kid, why would he do an interview like that so early in his career? Then he looked at me with a kind of deep seated sadness in his eyes and had said that I wouldn’t understand how difficult life was when you are an orphan. I was quiet after that when he told me that he needed that interview and that there was not enough time. Then he kind of looked into the distance and said ‘I’m going to watch this thing go through. You just get me the interview before the weekend.’ I tried to speak to the lady….”

“Belle” Leona helped.

“Yeah, her, but her father’s goons would not let me speak to her when I went over the next day to speak to her. When I told Brady about it, he said to me that I needed to get my hands on that interview anyhow, even if he weren’t alive. He was wasted that night on the boat so I thought that he was just pissing around. But I never gave up pursuit of that interview.”

“Does that mean Brady had told you about his imminent death?”

“Well yeah, Benjamin had said that he was going to release the interview with the edition when Brady would be on the cover. But before that could happen, he died, and so Brady couldn't help but feel scared. He told me that he was walking around looking over his shoulder every time. He wanted me to see where the interview was, and if there was a plan to publish it… I called and found that Benjamin hadn't turned in any story. Brady was paranoid after he heard this. He kept saying they got to him."

"They?"

"God knows who he meant? I just thought he was overthinking this;  and then one day, he was really happy. He came to me and said that Benjamin had managed to get his message across to the right people before he died. He was supposed to meet someone after his O2 concert for breakfast the next day, but sadly that was the night he was murdered."

“Did you go for that meeting then?”

He looked startled at this question, “You know, now that you mention it, I think I should have done that. I would have come to know who this mystery person was who had told Brady that he could help him get justice.”

Leona could feel the frustration rise when she heard this, however, she powered on, "Did you receive any threats or any other items?”

"You mean, other than the regular stuff? He was a musician who was in the closet and there were always angry fans and greedy paparazzi that were looking to get money?"

Something struck in Leona's mind and she asked: "Were there particular paparazzi that followed him around?" 

“Yeah, a couple of them were regulars, but there was this one guy who had caught him and Castiel a couple of times and I guess he got the last pictures of Brady going into the building. I think his name was Frank Deveraux."

"Does he have an address or something?"

"Not that I know of, these guys are very secretive about their locations. I mean, half of the celebrities are looking out for these folks."

"Thanks, Garth, here is my card. I'm hoping I can call on you in the future."

"Sure," Garth said genuinely.

Leona stepped out on the pavement and felt the cold air on her cheeks. She felt herself getting excited with this new lead and raised a hand to hail a cab. She called Ash as she sat inside the recently held cab.

\-------

"Care to explain this?" the mayor said, banging the copy of the newspaper that showed the story of Lebron Walker,  as Sam entered his office. 

"Oh that", Sam said, trying to sound cool. He knew things were not right when his father in law had called him last night after he got back home after him and Officer Novak had gone out for a drink. They both were happy as they sat in silence and had their drinks with the looks of quiet contentment on their faces.

"Yes, this little matter, do you know how much embarrassment this has caused the administration? Not to mention the fact that we may have to pay these people the reparations for a miscarriage of justice. What the hell were you even thinking, boy?"His father-in-law's voice brought him back into the room, and he saw the other man’s face staring him down.

Sam looked down at his shiny brown shoes and then looking up, he replied "I did what I knew was the right thing to do.  Detective Novak came to me with evidence that there might have been a miscarriage of justice. I had to act, I could not let the wrong kid be accused while the real criminal went around gaining more confidence and committing even more heinous crimes. He attacked a priest, for Christ sake, and the boy has no sense of remorse for what he did...He had to be taught..."Sam said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Do you even know who the boy's parents are? The father is a real estate giant, while the mother comes from one of the wealthiest families in the city. These people are potential funders, people whose support you are going to need, especially when you run for Governor of the state. Ideals can be kept for later; right now, you need to make friends, especially friends in high places that will help you climb the ladder for the highest office in the state”,  the Mayor finished, repeating exactly what he had said to Leona when she had questioned him about the Jackson boy. He wanted a bigger office so that he could help more people, that was exactly what he had convinced himself of, and here he was, being told that some rich brat was supposed to be let go because Sam wanted to be governor. The thirst for power was inexhaustible,  and this cycle would never end. 

"I'll see what can be done, listen, boy, I want what is best for you. You are no longer the doe-eyed boy who is just outta Stanford, this is the real world, and in the real world we have to make real choices" Mayor Kendall said, patting Sam on his arm. He got up and took his leave from the Mayor's office. He felt trapped and rolling down a spiral. 

He realised that Ruby had the car today, so he decided to take a cab ride home. On his way out, he heard a familiar tune rolling by "That's the way love goes." He closed his eyes to feel the familiar warmth of Leona's figure and her familiar scent as she pushed closer to him. As he opened the door for the taxi that he had hailed, he saw her sitting there, paying the driver. She turned to look at him; Sam was getting ready for the usual routine where it started at confusion and ended up with anger. However, this time she merely smiled at him while Sam looked away as he could not bear to look at her, feeling a deep pit in his stomach. He heard her leave through the other door.

\-----

Castiel sat outside on the other side of the courtyard, watching the fast developing game of basketball. Even though he was watching it, his mind wasn't in the game, neither was he into what Uriel was telling him in his ears, nor thinking about that self-satisfied grin on Cain's face who sat there on the opposite side of the fence. He was still there in infirmary, kneeling down between Dean's legs and looking into green eyes, trying to remember what that expression on Dean's face was. There was more than just fear and confusion and lust. There was that look of earnest liking and appreciation. That's what had been on his mind; he had seen that look on the faces of his lovers and admirers. The faces of John, Guy and Josh moved in front of his eyes. He had hated those looks in their eyes… had he hated them, or hated himself? The fact that he was a liar and cheat who never told them that whatever was between them wasn't real, that he just needed a warm body and nothing else. He could never truly open his heart to them, because there was nothing inside there but a black hole, left there after the death of Michael. And now they were all dead, because he had never told them the truth, pushed them away from his cursed being. He sat there, feeling a growing anxiety inside his stomach, thinking that maybe he did kill those people just like everyone said, but not because he was jealous, but because he knew he was cheating on them, and the only way to release them was by killing them. And now there was Dean. He looked at the building where his office was. He thought that maybe Dean was watching him through the blinds. His forest green eyes looking at him with love and undying affection. Castiel couldn't do it to him, what if Dean ended up like the others? What if Castiel would wake up one day again next to his dead body?

The thought made Castiel's skin shiver as he felt a chill run through him. Castiel got up and saw one of his attackers staring at him. He then looked towards Cain, who moved his head sideways. Of course, Cain was going to ask his dog to step back since there were too many witnesses. Castiel felt a resolve take shape in his stomach and made himself rise and walk towards the guy. Castiel went up to him and  slammed his fist right into the guy's face. The guy stumbled a few paces back. The basketball game stopped and Cain rose from his seat. Then Castiel landed another kick into the guy's stomach, and he saw the guy fall to his feet. Castiel took the opportunity to shower the guy with more blows. This continued until Castiel felt a black baton across his chest pull him back. He stomped the feet of the officer and he cried out loud in pain, loosening his grip on castiel. He now caught hold of the prisoner’s neck and held him in a chokehold. That's when Castiel felt a sharp jolt in his stomach and then fell to the ground. As he fell, he felt the familiar metal baton hit his back. "Stay down, Novak" he heard Dean say in a voice that tried not to sound hurt.

  
  



	17. Chapter 17

Dean was looking outside at the fast escalating scene when he saw Castiel lunge forward at Martin. Benny quickly got into action and moved out of the office. Dean picked up his baton and ran outside as well. He saw that most of the prisoners had gathered around them and the guards were enjoying the fight as they made no attempt to break it. Dean stepped out and he suddenly saw the flurry of action run through his men. From his experience from the last time, he knew very well who the guards would hit. He launched himself forward smack in the middle of the circle of prisoners that had formed around Castiel and Martin. The prisoners who were watching and cheering them took a step back from the two fighting prisoners. He saw that Castiel had caught the guy in a neck hold, choking the life out of the guy. Dean tried to pull Castiel away when he pushed him away. That's when Dean raised his baton and hit Castiel on his legs. He fell to his knees but refused to let go of Martin. Then one of the guards came in and tased Castiel at which he let go of the guy. Dean came to his sense when Castiel let out a scream of pain; Dean put a knee in the middle of his back as he had been trained to and shouted: "Stay down, Novak!"

With this the fight was broken up and Martin was taken to the infirmary while Castiel was taken to the warden’s office.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dean yelled at Castiel and the two guards looked up. The guard fastening Castiel's handcuffs gave him a smug grin; right then, Castiel lunged forward and headbutted the guy. Dean moved forward and pulled Castiel away when he saw the grin on his face. Dean closed his fingers into a fist and punched Castiel across his face; his head fell down. Castiel got up and elbowed Dean in his stomach and he felt a sharp pain as he bent over. He reached for his Taser and jabbed it into Castiel's thigh. The man groaned in pain and knelt in front of Dean.

Dean saw that he raised his head up again with that shit eating grin. He felt his blood boil and he landed another blow across his face. Dean felt tears threatening to come out of his eyes. He closed his eyes and he almost growled: "LEAVE US!” The guards almost scampered out of the room, murmuring, "Oh,  he's gonna get it now!"

As they left the room,  Dean turned away from Castiel's kneeling form, but he held Dean's hand and said,  "Aren’t you going to teach me a lesson?...Treat me for who I really am?" in his gravelly voice. Dean turned his back to him, "Don't walk away, warden, this is who I am. A monster..."

Dean turned around and placed a hand on his lips. "No," Dean said weakly. "You're not...You're anything but that" he said, tears now streaming down his cheeks.

"I won't lose you like this....I am not giving up on you" Dean said, moving closer towards Castiel and placing a desperate kiss on his lips. Dean cupped Castiel's face with both his hands as though he was too fragile. Dean felt Castiel wrapping his hands around Dean's wrists. He pulled Dean's hands away and pushed him away. "No...You can't do this to me.You can't give me hope and then take it away from me... I've been cursed Dean...I won't be able to live with myself if something happens to you..."

Dean looked at him helplessly and moved closer to envelop Castiel in a hug. Castiel backed away but Dean pulled him closer into a tight hug. He felt Castiel's body go limp and then heard him sob on Dean's shoulder.

\------

The outskirts of the city were similar to any other city in the country, the roads were wider, the houses were just cement blocks with bricks lining and with a large ethnic population. Lucien loved this part of the city, he remembered the many nights after Gabe walked out with Castiel when his guilt had stolen his sleep, he would just drive here. He loved the open expanses that allowed him to breathe and the anonymity of the place where he could breathe and cry freely. People would never come over and ask him what was wrong. The car stopped in front of Kareem’s Customs, a huge garage known for customising cars for a particular clientele. As Lucien and his partner Crowley came inside, most of the men working on the cars looked up at them, this was the standard reaction to cops in such a place. Crowley cleared his throat and asked, "We are looking for Mr Kareem?" to which one guy simply pointed to the back of the shop with his wrench. Everyone slowly got back to work while Lucien and Crowley made their way towards the back. The information about the abandoned car which LeBron had provided led to his boss Tiney, who informed them that he had brought the car to Jamal for customising, so that he could sell it later.

"I thought the LeBron case was over, why are we here then?" Crowley asked with apparent worry on his brow.

"It is, we are here so that I can satisfy my curiosity. I want to know what a ring belonging to one of Gideon's followers was doing in an abandoned car. The car had gas and keys inside it, almost like someone wanted to get rid of it. So I want to know why?" Lucien answered,  not just to Crowley, but also himself.

"Are you kidding me? Has our workload gone so low that we are now sniffing out dead case leads?" Crowley asked incredulously.

"Humour me" Lucien replied with a dry smile.

Crowley merely rolled his eyes and walked ahead of his partner. They entered Jamal's office, to see a tall dark man with a skull cap, sitting with his feet on the table in front of him. He looked up from his newspaper and said: "How can I help you, folks?"

"We have a few questions about the 2000 Lincoln LS that Tiney brought, say, a month ago?" Lucien asked, flashing his badge.

"Hmm, well, if Tiney has told you about it then I don't see no point hiding the fact. He didn’t want to sell that car, he wanted that car for himself, to be pimped up" Jamal replied, keeping down his paper, and took his feet off the table.

"Can we see the car?" Lucien asked.

"Yeah sure, it is there in the back, we haven't touched it," Jamal said, getting up.

"Why haven't you started work on it?" Crowley asked.

"Well, Tiney is a shifty customer, I wasn't going to touch that thing till he gave me that advance I had asked for...and I think I was right not to touch it" he handed the key to Lucien and pointed in the direction of the car. They walked over to the car and Jamal removed the tarp covering it.

"I cannot believe that this car was abandoned," Crowley said looking the car over. Lucien removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

“You look in the back of the car while I take a look under the hood," Lucien said checking for the lever to open the hood under the steering wheel. While inside, he moved his gloved hand over the dashboard and then opened the glove compartment in the vain hope of finding something. Finding it empty, he bent down to see if there was any litter on the floor. After not finding anything, Lucien moved towards the hood of the car. There was no number plate on the car, which meant they had to look on the engine for a chassis number. As Lucien opened the hood of the car, his mind raced to the time when he was fixing his father's car, asking Castiel to race the car so he could see what was causing the car to heat. While Gabriel was dancing to Uptown Girl as he was waxing the car. A smile came onto his face as he bent down to see the number, and he realised he wasn’t 16 anymore, that he could fit his head in there. He searched around for paper and a pencil to etch out the number. As he got the number, he asked: "Found anything back there?"

"Well, since I don't know what exactly I am looking for, I would say there is nothing out of the ordinary here," Crowley replied indifferently.

"Well, I found the engine number and we can ID this car?" he said, showing the number etching he had got.

\------

Leona sat there at the paradise cafe tired of going through the same notes that she had made, when her senses were hit with the nice smell of cinnamon mixed with nutmeg. She looked up from her file and saw that there was a piece of carrot cake and Mary was pouring coffee. She smiled at her and said, "You looked like you needed something sweet." Leona could not believe the fact that even after what had happened between her and Sam, both Dean and Mary had been so close to her. She never felt like she was not a part of the family, and the Winchesters truly believed that family did not end with blood. Mary had been a strong pillar of support for her when she had moved to the city and especially after she and Sam had separated, it never seemed she was alone in a new city. As she saw her go from table to table pouring coffee and talking to her patrons, it just seemed like yesterday when she had first met her.

_She was sweating through her palms and was glad Sam had left her with Dean. "So he is running late when he has to introduce you to Mom, seriously, why are you getting married to this guy?" Dean asked with a hint of displeasure._

_“Dean, please, he said that he is stuck at work and I don't know why we are meeting at this cafe? Rather than a restaurant?" Leona was wiping her damp fingers. Dean caught her hands and pressed them as a gesture to calm her down when she continued "Do I look okay? I did not know what to wear, Sam said to wear a dress, but he did not tell me what kind of dress. Is this too casual? Sam told me that she owns a business, what if she was expecting something more professional...”_

_Just then this waitress came over, poured coffee and put a piece of cake in front of her. Leona looked up to say something but saw the waitress smiling at her and immediately Leona felt a calm wash over her. "Darling, you look like someone who can do with some cake and coffee."_

_Dean was smiling and moved his fork to dig into the cake; the waitress smacked his hand away and reprimanded him "That is for her, I will get you another piece."_

_As she walked away from them to get Dean another piece, Leona stared at her, then Dean, who had this smile on his face. "What the hell was that? That woman looked very familiar, there is something very similar about you and her” she said, looking at Dean. He just shrugged his shoulders and the waitress came back, this time her apron was off and she came down to sit next to her at the table. Leona had no idea what was happening when she saw Sam, who was waving at her wildly. He had put on  the 100-watt smile and a bouquet in his hands,  and as Leona rose from the chair to hug him, she noticed that the woman next to her had also raised and Sam directly stopped before Leona and hugged the woman tightly. Looking at Leona's confused look, Sam said: "Leona, you’ve  met my mom, Mary Winchester?"_

_"Oh dear, you are his mom, I am so so sorry. Did I say something stupid to you, I don't know, I don't remember. Oh God, I should stop talking altogether" Leona said, placing a hand on her mouth. Sam and Dean both laughed at Leona's odd behaviour and just then they stopped grinning. Mary was looking at them with stern eyes; then she turned her gaze on Leona and offered her a hug. Leona hugged her and Mary said "Oh honey, you don't have to worry, you are perfect the way you are. You and Sam will make a great pair. Never be afraid of me, honey" and just then in those arms, Leona felt as though she was back home in her mother's arms. Mary had stuck to her promise and stayed with her even after the divorce, she was there for Leona being more like a mother than a mother in law._

Leona began thinking about what Garth had  said to her today about John Brady and the scenarios around his death. Who was this person that John Brady had met? Who was he supposed to meet the next day? Who were "they" that Brady was worried about? How much did Castiel know about this? The more she scratched the surface of this mystery, the more sinister it became. There was something boiling beneath, seemingly not a simple homicide case, could it be that all the victims knew each other? Could it be that maybe Castiel was actually being made a scapegoat? Just then she saw Ash walking towards the cafe. He came inside and raised his hand, showing Leona that he held a folder. He came over, shouting out for a coffee and cake. "Really, cake as well; I hope that envelope has the interview transcribed?"

“I wish that it was something that sweet” Ash said. He sat down and pushed the folder towards her. She opened the envelope and saw two black and white photographs, one of which showed a pair of legs and another pair of boots. The camera angle seemed like it had fallen over.

“What's this?” she asked, looking at the picture from the envelope.

“This was the picture taken by Frank Deveraux on the night of John Brady’s murder; he was standing outside waiting for Castiel and John to come out, instead he saw a couple step out and bump into him and the guy stepped on his camera to make sure no pictures were taken. This is the last image that the camera took before the guy punched the lights out of him,” Ash explained.

“Why didn't Frank turn these images to the police?” Leona inquired.

“Frank wasn’t sure that these images might be relevant. But look at the timing, here in the left corner, it is exactly an hour after John’s death. Also, can you look at the bat's head from the bag that the girl is carrying… doesn’t it look like a baseball bat?  I thought that maybe we take these images to Castiel, show him and see if he remembers anything?” Ash said, pointing to the picture.

“Good idea, I think we should make a move and see Mr Novak again. I have a few questions of my own to ask him.” With this they left with their coffee and cakes towards the state penitentiary.

\-----

Sitting in the taxi, Sam rode past the centre of the town towards the outskirts of the city. He was going to see Dean for lunch after accepting his invitation when he had called him out of the blue for lunch at this great place nearby the state penitentiary named Dixie’s Diner that served the best biscuits and gravy this side of the border.

As Sam moved out of the city centre, he saw the landscape change from tall buildings to large expanses of land, farms and barns.  He was now moving towards the rural parts that surrounded the city that provided for most of the produce that the city consumed. The state penitentiary was placed outside the city, and very often the not so serious offenders were loaned out as farm labour to these farms. The cabbie stopped outside the restaurant, which looked more like someone’s neat home than a restaurant; Sam paid him and entered the white picket fence. He was about to walk inside when he saw that Dean was waving to him as he sat in the corner at the al-fresco area of the restaurant. The establishment seemed very rustic and not a place Sam would usually try out, but the smell of the food was making him hungry. As Sam sat down, Dean pushed the menu towards him “I don't need to look at that thing, I know what I am getting, but I would strongly recommend the steak, even though I know you will always order the goat food.”

Sam smiled at this and looked at the menu; just then, the waitress joined them, and Dean ordered the steak with sides of biscuits and gravy while Sam ordered some soup and a big salad.  Dean smirked at listening to this and commented “Watching the weight for the big day, are we? Well, I don't think your weight is going to be a big issue?” Dean said mockingly.

Sam looked at him quizzically, “Great catch on the Walker case. I did not think you had it in you to accept that the department of justice had made a mistake” Dean said disconcertingly.

“Well, I am full of surprises, you see. I am not the vile and disgusting creature that some people paint me to be” replied Sam calmly.

"Come on, Sam, what does the missus think about the Walker case? It must have ruffled a few feathers at the mayor's office as well?” Dean continued.  

"She doesn't bother me in my work unlike someone else I know or I used to know" Sam replied indifferently.

"Yeah, I can see that she has an expertise in being arm candy. Anyways not my place to talk, so what led to the change of heart?” Dean asked.

"Dean, there was no change of heart, I have always wanted to see that justice was served.  It's just that I did not believe in being stubborn.  I know to pick my battles”, Sam explained.

"Wow, you almost sound perfectly sane, and yet I wonder, why would you chase around Leona?” Dean asked, feigning a surprise.

Sam cleared his throat. "What do you mean?"

“Oh, just nothing, I kept wondering why you stopped coming to the cafe after that morning when you bumped into Leona?” Dean questioned an increasingly uncomfortable Sam.

"I did not come there to see Leona, I was there to help out mum,” Sam said, looking away from Dean’s piercing green eyes.  

"Help out mum? Sam, she still needs help, so I would really appreciate it if you can come back,” Dean said sarcastically.

"I will try,” Sam's said noncommittally, hoping that Dean was not going to call out his bluff.

"Speaking of mum, I just came to know that you helped her last week during the storm and I heard you gave her a lift back home”, Dean inquired further.

Sam shifted in his seat uncomfortably "Yes, she called me."

"And you gave Leona a lift home as well, that was something new I must say, and you made sure she paid for it too,” Dean said, impressed with Sam.

“What's the meaning of that?” Sam said, looking up into Dean’s eyes.

“Sam, I know the little stunt you pulled with Leona; why did you do that, Sam? How could you do it?” Dean asked, raising his voice; luckily for Sam, there were not many people around at that time.

"Did Leona tell you about this?” Sam asked.

“Does it matter?” Dean asked, moving forward in his chair.

“Yes it does Dean, I am tired of answering these allegations that she keeps making and you keep coming to me asking for explanations” Sam replied exasperatedly.

“Sammy…”Dean said

“Don't call me that!” Sam snapped at Dean angrily. "Dean, she is alone and sad and clearly hasn't gotten over me,” Sam said, desperately trying to brush it off.

"Sam, I think I know people and I can tell you that Leona isn't one of the people who will make up such stuff. Will you answer me or should I check the CCTV footage?” Dean replied, glaring daggers at Sam.

“Why are you so worried about her, Dean?” Sam said bitterly.

“Because unlike you, Sam, I decided I do not want to give up on her”, Dean replied.

“Dean, you don't know what happened between us, and you don’t know who was the one that gave up? I wanted to give her everything, but she refused to get down from her high horse. I did not abandon her, Dean, I wanted her to come with me, but she refused, and now somewhere she is regretting it”, Sam explained desperately.

“Sam, I don't know where to even begin, did you ever try to find out if there was any truth to what she was saying? I am sure you did not, because somewhere you had decided that she was wrong. I have been looking at old case files and I can assure you that whatever she said about the Jackson boy might be true! He was hanged not in his cell, but somewhere else. He was murdered, Sam, but I am sure you don't even remember which case I am talking about” Dean conjectured.

\-----

Sam looked down guiltily at the hot soup that had arrived, but he seemed to have lost all his appetite. Dean and Sam ate in silence until the waitress came and took out their plates.

“Sam, I'm serious, you can't behave like this with her. Is this sudden bout of affection for her because you see that she is moving on? Or do you really miss her that much, Sam? You are playing with her feelings, and I won't let you do that; she's been through a lot, and she doesn't need this so I'm saying this nicely: back off!” Dean said, making sure the waitress was out of earshot.

“Oh yeah, what will you do about it if I don't? You are the one who needs to back off from her” Sam said, showing no signs of backing down. Dean placed a hand over Sam’s hand; then he gripped it until Sam let out a cry of pain.

“Sam, don't touch her, don't bother her, it's over and get it through your thick skull that you cannot go behind her” Dean warned.

“Dean, who the hell are you to warn me?” Sam said, taking his hand out of Dean’s grip.

“Sam, I am her friend and you know what? She considers me her friend too. You on the other hand, what do you think you are to her?” Dean asked.

“What you mean? Of course, I'm someone to her too” Sam replied, not knowing what he was saying.

“What is your relationship to Leona now?” Dean asked.

Sam was for the first time at a loss for words in this conversation; he could not believe that Dean was right - he could no longer call himself any relation to Leona; he was nothing in her life. He felt an unfamiliar feeling of guilt,  and for the first time since their divorce, Sam felt the fact sink in that maybe everything was over and there was nothing left to go back to. He was left with nothing but memories and the feelings for her that he had buried underneath but very close to the surface. There was nothing but a wasteland of memories, Leona was gone and he had to live with the fact that even though he saw her every day, he would never truly be able to go and touch her again or be with her again.

He held his now aching hand (since Dean had grabbed it) and walked away hoping that the Uber he had called for had arrived. He sat in the car and drove towards the city, having a sensation that he was drowning. He couldn't believe that he had lied about Leona and his encounter with her in the apartment’s elevator, and not just that; he had even said horrible lies about her. He began to wonder whether he had really gotten over Leona. Every time he saw Dean laying a hand on her, Sam could feel the anger rising in him; every time she was near, Sam wanted to reach out and touch her. Everyone including Sam thought that it was Leona who was having a hard time getting over their marriage. But slowly and consistently there was a feeling of loss growing within Sam where he felt that as the wedding date with Ruby came closer, he was losing Leona, and these instances of talking to her or touching her were his ways of trying to keep her with him. As this realisation hit him, he placed his hands over his face and buried his face in them, thinking that it was really happening.  Leona was moving away from him; he was never going to see her again once he said yes to Ruby. The gravity of their divorce suddenly hit Sam, so much so that he asked the driver to pull over so that he could throw up his lunch.

 


	18. Chapter 18

Leona looked up at the glass to see the rain falling, running down in small rivulets on the glass. She looked out into the now wet courtyard and saw the huge buildings staring down at her. Prisons were always designed to be scary with their foreboding buildings, wires and guards at every juncture, and especially this one, which had a constant sense of unease around it. She had entered the state penitentiary not the first time. Trying to push the thought of Jerome from her head, she was waiting for the guards to bring in Castiel; meanwhile, she found out that Dean had just stepped out for lunch. She was facing the window when she heard the rattle of the chains, when she saw the guard usher in Castiel with the chains that went from his hands to his feet.  _ He doesn't really need those; they are burdening his already heavy soul _ she thought to herself. The guard pushed him into the seat and before he could leave, Leona asked the guard to remove his chains. The guard looked at her apprehensively but removed them, warning her "Ma'am, he is dangerous." She brushed him off as he went outside. As the guard closed the door and it was just the three of them, she moved closer to Castiel and gingerly placed a hand on Castiel's shoulder. All this while Castiel was sitting on the chair and looking down at his hands. He shuddered and then looked up into her brown eyes and saw her expression change from care into intense worry.

Castiel smiled at her weakly and she pulled her chair even closer to him. She asked him, "What happened? Who did this? Does Dean know this?"

He smiled back at her dryly and said, "What if I say that he did this?" She could not believe what she was hearing, but she was determined not to show it so she steeled herself and looked at him with kindness. 

"I deserved it though," he quickly explained, "I got into a fight with one of the fellows who...." he prevented himself from saying anything more.

"Who’s what? What happened to you Castiel, you have to tell me?" she said, reaching  out  to hold his hand.

Castiel looked at her with his blue eyes, searching to see if he could trust her with what happened to him. "Nothing that I couldn't handle." Leona asked Ash to step out for a while; he was very reluctant to go. 

"Castiel, now it's just you and me, I know Dean's not the kind of guy who hits folks without a reason. I know how much it hurts him to hurt others, especially someone he cares for" she explained. She saw Castiel looking at her as though she had told him that the earth was round the first time. "No, he can't, please tell me this is not true, I can't take it" he wailed as he fell off the chair as though he had crumbled into pieces on the floor.

Leona got down and picked him up and pulled him closer. She pulled Castiel into an embrace, and he reluctantly gave in. He was breathing heavily; she held him close and was making soothing noises when he said "I'm doomed Leona, what if he dies the same way the others did? What if he is lying there dead and I pass out, not knowing what happened...I just won't be able to live with myself. I see the way he looks at me and I know he cares for me, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to save him... I'm cursed, Leona!" Leona listened quietly and kept making the soothing noises; her mom used to calm her like this. She had held her close when her mom had come over the night she lost her father. 

Leona felt Castiel begin to calm down when Ash walked in. She made a gesture to get him some water. As he went out, Castiel looked up with his swollen red eyes at her; she smiled at him quietly and he raised himself up onto the chair. Ash entered with the water that Leona pushed towards Castiel. He took it gratefully and drank it. "You said that you saw someone lie dead while you passed out? Who was that?" Leona asked.

"Um, John, Josh and Guy, though I heard footsteps before I passed out for John and Guy. Felt like someone was walking about and I think I saw a pair of shoes, those....ugly boots... But I don't know if they were really there or not. You know they say that sometimes murderers try to make up stuff that wasn't there", Castiel recalled dismally. 

"Don't worry about what's made up and what isn't. That's why I'm here. So these boots, were they something like this?” she said as Ash had pulled out the picture that Frank Deveraux had taken. Castiel looked at the picture of shoes.."Yes, something like this one" he said, pointing at the shoes.

"Cas, can I call you that?" She smiled and he blushed and nodded his head.

"Did either John or Benji or Guy ever speak of each other?" she inquired.

"Hmm, not really. Benji was just a quick fuck and we didn't talk much in the office before that night. John and Guy never spoke of each other; I think Guy avoided talking about John to me cos he knew I was involved with him. I mean it was hard to escape talking about John as he was that high profile murder victim. But Guy was sweet and never mentioned it as it agitated me” he replied. 

"What about John, did he ever speak of Benji?" she pried again. 

"No, not really. But as we are speaking of connections, Josh's father was one of the lawyers that worked for Guy" Castiel recalled. 

"But weren't his lawyers Collins and Rogoff?" Ash interjected

"No, if I remember correctly, he was the lawyer for one of his charities that worked with young kids" he recollected.

"How did you know about this?” she asked. 

"The first night we met, actually the morning after, he told me that one of his lawyers lives in the same building. When he mentioned his name, I knew that he talked about Josh's father" Castiel returned.

Castiel suddenly stopped and looked into the distance and then a moment later he came back to the room and looked from Leona to Ash. Leona figured that there was more that he wanted to say when she looked at Castiel's unsure eyes. "What is it?"

"Hmm… nothing, it is just that I remembered a very similar rainy afternoon like this. When I was at the hospital and Josh had come to visit me. We were talking about stuff we like and don't like. That moment he said how much he enjoyed John Brady's music, and then all of a sudden he stopped talking, realising that maybe he shouldn't have brought up that issue. I merely smiled at him to let him know it was okay. Then he said that he had heard his father say once after John's death that he should have reached out to him earlier" Castiel said.

“Uhm Castiel, if you don’t mind my asking, I wanted to speak to you about your epilepsy” Leona approached the topic gingerly. Castiel merely nodded, giving her permission to speak. “So were the meds the doctor prescribed helping?”

“Well, after Benji I was really freaked out and I asked him to change my meds. He gave me stronger meds and told me there might be some side effects, but Anna helped me with those.”

“What did she do?”

“She gave me some over the counter drugs, I don’t really remember what they were, but something for headaches and pain relief. Things did get worse, but then I did not have the nerve to go to the doctor and seek his advice” Castiel remembered.

“What exactly were these attacks? Were they like epileptic episodes?” she asked.

“Well, not really, my first attack during Benji seemed more like I was drugged. I simply passed out without warning, but later on these attacks were preceded by blackouts” he replied.

“Does this mean that the attacks happened only during the murders?” she asked, and Castiel nodded at this.

Both Leona and Ash shared excited looks between each other. Castiel held her hand and looked up into her eyes. She saw deep sorrow in those eyes, it felt like staring into the mirror for one moment. 

"You have to talk to him...I'm not good news." Leona was so overwhelmed in that moment that she merely nodded her head. There was a knock on the door, the guard told them their time was over. She reluctantly let go off of Castiel's hands. As Castiel left the room, Leona said to Ash: "Find out about Josh's father!"

\-----

Dean returned back to office and found Benny sitting inside. Along with Benny there was another man sitting in the chair; he seemed to be one of the Prisoners. Benny rose from his chair, saluted Dean and told him that Leona had come to visit Castiel. He also informed him that she wanted to speak to him and had asked him to call her as she left. Dean assured him that he would call her; he moved his head slightly in the direction of the prisoner sitting in the chair. At this Benny smiled and whispered, “We managed to break one of the soldiers.” Dean listened to this; his eyebrow crooked, and that was the only reaction he gave. He went and solemnly sat in front of the prisoner. “So, Benny informed me that you would like to tell us something” Dean asked, leaning forward in his chair. The Prisoner, who Benny informed him to be Patrick Mulroney, looked hesitant and said “What guarantee do I have that you guys won’t screw me over?” 

To this Dean replied “What guarantee do I have that you haven’t been sent by Cain himself?”

“Fair enough... what is it that you guys want to know?” Patrick replied.

“Tell us who the soldiers are working for?” Dean asked. 

“Come on Warden, we are a prison gang, we work like any other gang- we work for money”,  Patrick replied indifferently.

“So it's true that you and your friends have been knocking off people and taking money for it” Dean said. “Who are your clients?” he continued. 

“Now that's a tricky question.  See, I am not the guy who is coordinating any of this. I am the muscle; the brains of this operation is Cain. He is the one who tells us who to knock off” Patrick replied.  

“Wait, so you're telling me that Cain is the one who was the kingpin of this whole operation? But then what about the Jackson boy? Cain was not there back then?” Dean questioned.

“No, you don't get it. Soldiers have chapters in different prisons across the country. Before Cain came in, I was running the show, and then they told me that this new guy will be coming in, and next thing I know he is barking out orders” he replied with some anger in his voice.

“Who sent you this message?” Dean asked walking around him.

“I got it from the former warden’s office” Dean looked up at Benny who looked away from him.

“Is there a proof that the warden’s office was involved?” Dean asked. 

“Well, I got all my notes from here rather than the mail. The warden didn't say anything, but the notes would always come to his office.” Patrick explained.

“You don't seem too happy with this guy Cain” Dean observed. 

“No, I don't like him, mostly because I can never  figure out what he is thinking” Patrick said.

“So you guys agreed on killing Jackson?” Dean said.

“Not me, I told Martin to go and do it” he said.

“What about Weems?” Benny asked.

“What about him! I got the note from Cain and then me and Martin took care of the guy. Also I would like to tell you guys that I wasn’t the one who killed him, I just helped carry the guy back to his room. Kind of like logistics” he explained.

“Do you have any of these notes with you?” Dean asked, looking at him straight. 

“As a matter of fact, I do, but I ain't giving them away so easy. I would like to bargain for that” he replied, smirking at both Dean and Benny. 

“Listen…” Benny began but Dean stopped him, instead asking him, “What do you need?”

“See, I know what I have done, so all I want is a safe passage out of this prison to somewhere the soldiers cannot find me. Some place where I can spend the rest of the years not looking over my shoulder. Some place where I can be closer to my daughter. I can give you everything that I have on the soldiers” he replied unemotionally. 

With this he got up to leave and then stopped in his tracks and turned around “oh, by the way Warden, your pretty boy Castiel has a pink slip on his name. Before you ask, that means the Soldiers are not going to give up on trying, Cain is right now waiting for the right opportunity. I heard him say ‘he cannot live if I have to live. Damn fruitcake, he is not going to make it” he said, grinning in a sinister manner as he spoke those words. 

Something snapped in Dean and he went over to Patrick, he punched him right in the middle of his nose. Patrick looked up and then looked down smiling and walked off.

As he made his way down the courtyard and through the narrow corridor he saw that on one side of the fence there was Cain, sitting and talking to others. Dean smiled to himself knowing that the guy had said this to provoke Dean to hit him, so that Cain would not doubt his loyalty.

\------

Gabriel sat there in the office, tapping the pen nervously on the surface of the table. He was waiting for Leona and Ash for their meeting, to relay the findings of their investigation so far. He felt a little hopeful as Ash had sounded excited on the phone, but he was trying to quiet down this flutter of excitement in his stomach.

Waking up everyday in the morning was becoming a challenge for him. Gabriel was made painfully aware of the fact that Castiel was rotting away in one of the worst prisons in the country everyday whenever he saw the picture next to his bed. There had been stray news reaching him that the new warden Dean Winchester seemed improving the prison situation. However, Gabriel was sceptical of the changes, knowing as a fact that no place in this city would improve enough to accept Castiel. He would always be an outcast, and that was the reason Gabriel had left the city in the first place. The fact that Castiel was in prison reiterated the fact that how right he was in his decision and how little everything had changed in the city. He slept very little these days and it was a strange reminder of days that he put past both himself and Castiel. 

_ It was right after they had walked out of their Uncle's home and left the city in the wake of that terrible fight with their family. Ever since they had left, Castiel had that permanent look of guilt on his face, as though he was the reason for the situation that both brothers' found themselves in. It annoyed Gabriel to no end; how could Castiel feel bad about what had happened, why couldn't uncle Zack feel awful for his mindless religious zeal, or why couldn't Luci feel terrible for his impotent silence as he just stood there when his uncle berated his brother and hit him. _

_ Gabriel used to work two jobs while completing his law degree in UC Berkeley to make sure they had a roof on their heads and food on their plates. Every time he came back from work, his heart would break a little when would see Castiel sitting in the window looking out and breaking down internally as Castiel could not wash off the blame. He would clean the house, make dinner and keep the house running, but that did not mean he could wash away the guilt of putting Gabriel through this. Gabriel was trying everything in his power at that time to make Castiel forget, but to no avail. Until one day when his friend Balthazar, who used to work with Gabriel in his evening job as a bartender,  invited the brothers to a small family dinner. His family lived in Missions district, a Spanish neighbourhood in a decent sized house that was filled with his family that day. Castiel was extremely reluctant, but Gabriel convinced him that he needed this. As they entered, Balthazar introduced him and Castiel to his mile long family, Gabriel found them to be all very warm folks. He thoroughly enjoyed the food, the music and wine. In the middle of the festivities with his friend, he realised that he could not find his brother anywhere. He pulled Balthazar out of his revelry and they began their search for Castiel; it wasn't exactly a big house, so they found him upstairs in Balthazar’s elder brother's room. Castiel was sitting there with a camera in hand and he was taking pictures of the party below. As he saw Gabriel and his friend, he pushed a picture that he had taken from a Polaroid sun 600 camera into their hands. Balthazar took the image while Gabriel looked at Castiel with look of rebuke. "This is amazing, this is a good picture" Balthazar said with a smile. Castiel smiled at this and looked at Gabriel who was so happy to see his brother finally crack a smile, he forgot all about the rebuking him. He asked Balthazar if he could buy the camera and the man was happy to give away the camera as it pained his mother to see it since they had lost his brother in a war. Balthazar asked for a price of $60 which was half of what it cost but still steep for Gabriel. But for that smile on Castiel's face he bought that camera and put some more hours at work.  _

Gabriel's chain of thought was broken when he heard a soft knock on his door and saw Leona and Ash standing there. He motioned them inside; they sat down in front of him, removing their paperwork and notes. Leona was objective and  meticulous in any investigation where she left no stone unturned. She sat there in front of him reporting to Gabriel her early findings of her investigation with the right interruptions from Ash. She had gone through all the evidence and had managed to uncover some clues like the ones around Castiel's condition to the fact that maybe the victims knew each other. Gabriel gripped his hand tightly around the paperweight when he heard Leona mention Castiel's epilepsy and his night terrors. 

Gabriel felt a strange sense of vindication when he heard Leona's findings which led his mind to think that there might be a legitimate chance to save his brother. As they finished relaying their information, Gabriel took a long pause and said "I will be applying for a subpoena based on your finding.  You guys need to submit all the proofs you have gathered so that we can reopen this case."

With this, the meeting was over and Ash left the room while Gabriel asked Leona to stay back. As Ash closed the door, Gabriel asked Leona "You met him, right?"

"He is as good as he can be in that place" Leona replied with a smile.

"What does that mean? Did something happen?" he asked, worry lining his voice. 

Leona heaved a deep breath and replied "Gabe, he seems to be losing it. He is starting to lose hope, the part of him that still is curious to find out the truth seems to be losing, making him believe that he must have done it."

"Why would he think that? It must be that place, those guards and inmates. Things have not changed much there" he said, anger rising in his voice.

"No Gabriel, trust me, things are changing there. Dean's going out of his way to make sure Castiel is safe, and keeping him from losing his sanity" she said, stopping herself from saying anything more. She looked up at Gabriel and said "I need to go now" and left the room, leaving Gabriel more confused and worried about his brother. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	19. Chapter 19

As the day winded down to an end, people began to file out of their offices and Leona found herself standing in her office, looking down on them. She saw that people were eagerly filing out of the buildings into the streets to meet friends or be with their families. A few souls like her lingered on in their offices, watching, then as the evening shadows crept forward each of those offices with people still in them began to light up. She noticed different office windows lighting  up; one of them was that of InGen, Guy Salieri’s company. She was reminded of how fondly Castiel spoke of Guy; suddenly restless, she went back to her notes on the table. She realised that both John and Guy were from an orphanage according to Castiel and Garth. She went on her laptop to look for the name of the orphanage for both of them. After searching for some time, she came across two articles, one on John and the other on Guy, showing her the same name of the orphanage: St. Jude's home for boys. This was the missing link between the two guys, they were from the same place; did that mean that they knew each other, Leona wondered. Though both of them had four years between them it seemed that both were in the orphanage around the same time, according to the articles. Just then her phone rang and she answered.

"Hey there, gorgeous, you come to my prison and don't even wait for me?" Dean said jokingly.

"Hello there, warden, I asked for you and you were not there. Gone out to lunch, they said. And I know never to disturb you on your lunches" she said, still looking into the computer screen, but smiling now.

"Well, I really wanted to meet you so I drove all the way here and I am waiting for you near your building. I found out from Jess that you were in the office. Since it is dinner time I was wondering if  we could go out", he suggested.

“Oh, you are so dying to know what your blue-eyed boy said to me," she said teasing him.

She heard him clear his throat and heard him say,  "What does it matter to you? You have a car ride home and a free dinner."

"Okay, I will be down in a bit," she said, cheering up. A while later she saw herself downstairs looking for Dean, who was waving at her from the other side of the road. She crossed the path and sat in the Impala looking dapper like her owner.

"Hello there" she said, beaming at him.

"Well, look at you with all those smiles. What happened?" Dean observed.

"No, first thing's first - where are we going to eat? I don't want anything fancy but I would also like a place where we can sit down and have a nice chat. There are too many things happening and I need to have a chat with you to clear my mind" she replied.

"I'm flattered; I am guessing we can't go to Mom's today since the fryer is out of order. And you know me, what is food if it is not fried. So let’s go to Monks, not a lot of folks since it is a weekday" he offered.

She thought for a while and then she nodded her head in agreement, she loved Monks since it was one of the few places in the city that offered soul food and she herself was craving for something fried and greasy.

They drove in silent anticipation, it seemed like both were anxious to know what the other had to say, but were too conscious about seeming too eager.They entered Monks' and Leona remembered that this was a place that Dean had found; he had brought her here to cheer her  up after she had left Sam. That was the time she had told him about how she had come home to find Ruby in their flat when she had gone to collect her clothes. They sat at the corner table and ordered their food along with some beers for both of them. She was looking at Dean and saw that there was an anxious worry on his face that his 100-watt smile was trying to hide. She could not blame him, she was anxious herself about many things that just were not work related anymore. She was getting worried about Castiel on a more personal level and the fact that she had seen an article in one of the magazines about the upcoming wedding of Ruby Kendall, the social starlight of the city, to the young and dashing district attorney was nagging at her.

Dean touched her hand to pull her out of her worries.

"What's the matter? Care to share with the class?" he said looking at her.

"Oh yes, just lost down memory lane," she said, looking around the place.

"Yeah, I remember our first time here, not a nice one," he looked down apologetically.

"Hey, no please, this place reminds me of home somehow. My granny used to make a similar kind of food that both me and dad loved, while mom used to look at us with so much disappointment. But who cared when you had fried chicken in front of you and we were so happy that we could finally get away from all those healthy food experiments that my mother made for us" she said winking at him.

"Really, I never knew your mom was a health nut too," Dean said.

"Oh she is a big one and that was the one reason she liked Sam since he was the only one who enjoyed her cooking. Guess that was the one reason dad was suspicious of him. He always said: A man that does not like the greasy food, honey,  something is wrong with him. At which mom would hit him over his head playfully" she said reminiscing.

Dean gave a full-bodied laugh at this, “See, I always told you that you were with the wrong brother" he said raising his eyebrows suggestively. Leona rolled her eyes and Dean continued " speaking of Sam, I met him today for lunch and asked him about his behaviour towards you."

"Oh Dean, you did not have to do that" Leona said, feeling guilty.

"Come on Leona, he was way out of line with you" Dean explained.

"But I don't want to be the reason you two are fighting" she pointed out.

"Trust me, you are not the reason here. It’s just that sometimes he seems like a different person, he is like this annoying kid who's stubborn and then he is equally lost. Then those damn puppy eyes" he said, licking his lips exasperatedly.

"What do you mean lost?" Leona asked, her curiosity piqued.

"He was so angry about you and me. He actually thought that I and you were dating. Then I snapped at him and asked,  who is she to you? He just went quiet and had that stupid puppy dog look on his face", Dean said heatedly.

The waitress arrived with their beers and both Dean and Leona took a big gulp.

"Wow, really, I had no idea about this. Then he has no idea how much competition  I have when it comes to you" she said changing the subject.

Dean looked down, "Oh God, you two are so hopeless. He starts blushing when I call him Cas,” she replied smiling at him.

"This is interesting," Dean said perking up, moving forward and taking a sip from his beer, "so, what else did he say?"

"For starters, he refused to tell me about the marks on his face. Why the hell did you hit him?" she asked and Dean sank back in his seat.

"He started beating and choking this other prisoner.  I had to intervene with my baton. Then when we separated the two and he was brought to my office he lashed out at me in front of the guards. I asked everyone to leave us alone, then he looks at me with this rage mixed with hopelessness and pushes me away. Saying that he was cursed and a monster....." Dean couldn't go on any longer. He looked down, trying to hold himself together, too afraid of coming undone in front of Leona who was moving from her chair. She pushed Dean inside the booth and held him tightly, she was well aware of the feeling where you tried to put on a brave face while you were breaking inside. She had never seen Dean like this, he seemed to be coming apart at the seams. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes.

"I'm sorry", Dean blurted out.

"Shut up, Dean, " Leona replied without breaking the hug. Dean let out a small laugh and said: "Thanks then."

"Yup, that's the right answer," she said looking up at him.

"So what's happening with you?" he asked, still holding her arm.

"Well, mostly the investigation is taking up all my time..." their conversation was broken when the waitress brought in their orders.

"And is it looking hopeful?" Dean asked, taking a bite as Leona released him from her hug.

"You're asking as a lover or as an investigator?" she asked eyeing Dean.

"Leona, I'm too far gone for it to matter to me if he's guilty or not. Nothing changes for me",  Dean replied truthfully.

Leona considered his statement for a moment and let out a sigh, saying "Well, if that's the case, then I will share with you. So I think this might just be more than just a run of the mill serial killing. I have found out that all four victims knew each other. Like John Brady had given a tell-all interview to Benjamin from en Vogue."

"Whoa, a-tell all interview?" Dean said with his mouth full of fries.

"Yes, and guess what, before it goes for publishing, he is murdered. Brady's manager told me that John was really upset after Benjamin's murder. He told his manager that he was worried about himself too. He asked his manager to get the interview from Benjamin's wife but Belle did not give it to him. Then, just before his death, he told his manager that he had met someone who was going to help him out" she related to him while taking a bite from her fried chicken.

"Hmm, who," Dean asked looking down into his plate.

"Well Garth, the manager, didn't know who it was, but that person was going to meet John after the concert, on the night of his murder."

"Okay... but how does Guy or the other fellow feature in", Dean asked.

"So. Castiel told me that Josh mentioned to him in the hospital that his father said that John Brady could have been saved if they could have reached him in time. Cas also mentioned that Guy had once told him that Mr Parker or Josh's father was an attorney with him. He represented one of Guy's charities that worked with destitute children,” Leona revealed.

"Oh...This is big" Dean said, gulping down some beer.

"There's more. I just found out that both John and Guy were in the same orphanage. I get the feeling that maybe it was Guy or Josh's father that John was supposed to meet after the concert", she implied.

"Wow... this seems to fit in, but this still doesn't say that Castiel isn't guilty", Dean alluded.

"Hmm…. that is true, so far we only have a piece of evidence about the actual murder scene. It is the picture we got from this paparazzi stringer,  who claimed that this guy and girl pushed him when he managed to take a picture of them. This was half an hour after the murder of John Brady, outside the Ritz Carlton hotel, as the guy was waiting for Castiel or John to leave the hotel," Leona said, handing Dean the picture taken by Frank Deveraux.

"Hmm, this is something now. How about we go there? And check out the place?" Dean suggested.

"Are you serious?" Leona asked doubtfully.

"Come on, the time of the night is right and we can see how the hell Castiel managed to leave the hotel without being caught?" Dean said, asking for the check.

Leona thought about it and nodded her head in agreement; both of them stuffed their mouths with the remainder of the food.

\----

Dean wasn't exactly feeling great after his chat with his brother, knowing all too well that somewhere his stubborn ass brother had realised that it was over with Leona. It was always this thing with guys, at first after the breakup, they were all partying  hard, and then slowly they realised that they missed the other person more than ever. For Dean that wasn't the case, his friends were waiting for the other shoe to drop after Lisa had left him, but that never did happen. He parked his car and went towards his office. On his way, he saw that the surveillance room's door was open and he peeked in to see one of his officers was busy looking at the screens. He stood behind him and scanned the multitude of screens. His eyes seemed to be searching for someone in particular and he spotted him. Castiel was in the library helping out the librarian Rafael who was in for possession of narcotics. The irony of his case wasn't lost on anyone, he was dealing crack so that he could pay for his education. "They seem to be loving the library, especially with Rafael filling up those shelves with nice books," the officer said. Dean looked down and saw that the officer's hand was on a book. "That from the library?"

"Yes sir, I read the story and found it to be interesting. And Jenkins who sits with me got about 400 books from his late father's collection," the officer said looking in the direction of the empty chair of his partner.

"Really, that's awesome-  uh...I mean good" Dean was beaming to himself.

Then he looked up and saw all the men walking out of the library in a single file. Dean looked at his watch and then commented "Hey, what's happening, it's not time for outdoor activities and it is too early for dinner!"

"Oh yeah, it's Thursday, father Jonah will be coming in for church service today," the guard said, looking at the screen.

"Wow-  all of them go then?" Dean observed.

"Most of them go, some of Muslims nig.... and the Indians. Uh, I mean the native Americans don't go" he replied, looking down and away from Dean's glare.

He spent the next three hours busy with calls and a couple of parole meetings. As the day winded down towards the end, Dean had some time to address the nagging thoughts that had been threatening to distract him from his work. Benny had informed him that Castiel had broken down during his interview with Leona. Dean had realised that ever since the incident Castiel had been avoiding him and talking to him would only make Castiel's situation even worse. He realised that he had to speak to Leona,  his only mode of getting some kind of information on Castiel, and put his mind at ease. He made up his mind as he smiled to himself and took his coat, leaving the prison premises. He drove towards the centre of the town as the evening shadows were creeping in, he saw the folks heading home and he called Jess to see if Leona was still in the office. When Jess told him that she was indeed in the office as she and Ash had made some good headway into the case, Dean's interest was piqued too. When he reached the office of Novak and Associates he pulled out his phone and called her. With a promise of a ride home and free dinner, he convinced Leona to join him. Dean and she rode in silence to Monks, a place that Dean had found and invited Leona over to after she had moved out from her and Sam’s flat.

_The night before their lunch together, Sam had knocked on his door, half drunk. Lisa had opened the door thinking it was the pizza guy who was making his delivery as she and  Dean were getting ready to watch an Indiana Jones Marathon. As Sam faltered into his house Dean got up to hold him straight. Lisa went inside to give them some privacy, "Whoa, steady there Sammy" he said, trying to make Sam's huge form to sit on the couch._

_"Dean she...she took her stuff today" Sam blurted out._

_"Who?" Dean asked puzzled._

_"Leona, Dean...she left me, she walked out on me some 5 days ago but her stuff was all there so I figured that she will be back. And she came in the afternoon, she didn't even look at me or ask me how I was, she just barged in and took her ...stuff" Sam described the event choking in the middle._

_"Oh Sammy, that is rough" Dean comforted him, placing his hands on his shoulders  and stroking Sam’s back._

_"She must be ...pissed Dean, I mean how was I to know that Ruby would show up. Then Ruby fixed me some breakfast, tried to help me pull myself together. She said she would fix lunch and leave. As she was doing that she spilt some water on her dress....Dean .... I told her to wear something from the bedroom. She wears my shirt and comes out" Sam faltered._

_"Sammy what the fuck dude, why didn't you tell me or mom any of this?" Dean reprimanded._

_"I didn't...know..what to do...Listen it’s not over, Leona walks in and she sees her like that and then...Oh God Dean do you think that is the reason she was mad at me...she must be thinking that me and Ruby...oh no no no" Sam sat down slipping down from the couch and sitting on the ground._

_"Yeah, genius that is exactly what she thought, Sammy." Dean slipped down and sat next to him, looking into his eyes "Hey, I wanna ask you something - and answer me honestly. Why did you wait for five days for her? Why did you not go to her?" Dean took the opportunity to ask the question knowing that Sam was not in a position to lie right now._

_"I....Dean...I...messed up, I think she hates me. And I am too stubborn to tell her that I messed up. Dean, she is giving up on me and I want to stop her...beg her not to go...Dean, when she came back home I was so happy knowing she is back. Then when I followed her to the room and saw that she was packing Dean, packing everything. Everything she owned, she kept all the shoes I bought, she kept my gift for Christmas and then she left her cup too. Dean, you know what I should have done, I should have held her hand and knelt down and asked her to stay...but do you know what I did, I gave her another bag,  cos I knew that would not fit all her stuff..." Sam buried his face in his hands. Dean placed a hand on his shoulders and Sam began again "I helped her with her stuff in the elevator and I stood there with my back to her...I should have turned and kissed her..made her feel wanted..told her to come back to me..that my life felt like wasteland without her...But I didn't Dean, I didn't...I messed up Dean, and look what she sent me" He produced a piece of paper that Dean read and found was papers seeking the annulment of their marriage. Sam moved closer to Dean and hugged him._

Dean had put his arms around Sam the same way that Leona had put her arms around him when Dean's heart ached at the memory at Castiel's sharp words that had crashed his dream world, making him realize that he was in love with a person accused of murder. However, this had not made Dean pull himself away from Castiel, instead, he felt a stronger pull towards him as though he needed to protect him not from the prison or the guards, but from himself.

Leona's company and the food at monks had made him feel much better. After their dinner, Dean's interest was piqued with all the information he’d  heard from her in the case.  They found themselves driving towards the Ritz Carlton hotel (the site of the second murder); after that, they would go to the Salieri estate,  the site of the third murder scene. They were sitting in the Impala looking at the hotel from where they could see both the exits. Leona opened her laptop and replayed the clips that Ash had sent her from the street camera. They saw that there wasn't any movement from 1 - 2 am, which was the presumed time of death according to the coroner. Around 3 am, Dean pointed to the two figures that were walking towards the back entrance of the hotel; they bumped into the photographer. After that, they seemed to have disappeared when a cleaning truck left. "Well,  now we know how they left," Dean said, breathing heavily.

"What do you mean you know!" Leona asked.

"Come on, the truck is a cleaner’s,  you could easily wrap a person and send them into the laundry basket through the vent. Also, notice that the lady was walking to the left side and came out of the employee entrance when she joined the guy. That means they pretended to be staff!" Dean said, studying the footage.

Leona was looking at him with a look of utter disbelief.

"You should ask the staff who among them had changed their shift, or if there was any new employee in the cleaning company. These companies usually use the temporary staff on contract",  he continued.

"That would explain how they had the knowledge of the layout of the hotel and could get out", she added.

"The investigation only focused on the hotel staff and not the contract labour”, Dean remarked.

"But the keys? Contract labour isn't allowed inside the hotel rooms ," Leona noted.

Dean pouted and said, "We need to check the room."

"Why not… and then, while we are at it,let's take selfies there too?" she replied sarcastically.

"Oh come on, you are just like Sam. Follow me," Dean said pulling her.

Before she could stop him, Dean was already into the lobby of the hotel. "Hi there, my friend here told me that John Brady stayed in this hotel. I am a huge fan and would like to book the room or maybe something close to it" he said, smirking at the petite blonde who looked at Dean as though he was a piece of meat.

"Yeah sure, um...Room...Yes, 367 but we cannot give yo  that one. However, I could give you the one next to it" she said, looking  flustered.

"Thanks, gorgeous", he winked at her. He took Leona, who was looking as though she was about to commit a robbery in ocean's 11 with him,  into the elevator.

Their room was right next to John's room. Dean peered through to see if it was occupied and the lack of lights showed that there wasn't anyone there. He climbed on the window ledge and got onto the balcony. He motioned Leona to come to him; she gave him an exasperated look,removed her shoes and then followed Dean.

Dean had crouched down touching the iron rails, but suddenly he stopped, saying "Touch here, there is an indentation in the railing here. Whoever it was used a hook, but the question is - from where? They came inside the room from here. John or Cas didn't hear it as their balcony has soundproof doors. Either they could have  come from the top or the bottom. "

"Not possible, both the rooms were booked and their statement was recorded" she replied, remembering her notes.

"Hmm, so it can't be, these guys were here for temporary, they wouldn't risk speaking to the cops."

"What about in that office building over there, there wouldn’t have been a soul there during that time," he said, pointing to the building.

"That's right," she said, looking in the direction he indicated.

Within a short time, Dean and Leona were standing on top of the office building, looking at John's former room; once again Dean looked at the railing on the edge and as he was searching for anything unusual, he saw a red clip used to fastening climbing ropes on the floor of the terrace. That's when they heard the guard come up and say "Hey guys, I don't think I can let you guys stay here longer, my partner just told me that there is a camera here. Apparently, it's a secret camera that we didn't know was there. We recently upgraded the software and lost its feed but last week this old timer came back and told us about this camera that works but isn't showing on the system. So we re-plugged it into the system"

Dean and Leona looked at each other, knowing they had come across another clue. After coaxing the two officers and slight bribery on Dean's part they managed to see and get a copy of the footage. Dean and  Leona saw that on the night of the murder there were two shadowy figures entering the terrace and walking towards the railing as they unloaded their bags and set off to work. Just then the taller of the two came towards just below the camera avoiding the light and took out the light with a hammer. Dean froze the screen and said "check this out, the ring"; just then one of the two guards asked them to finish up quickly. Picking up the flash drive, Dean said,  "Don't want to keep you guys waiting!” As they were out of earshot of the building, he murmured, "Let's check out the Guy Salieri estate!"

\-----

"Thanks for coming to the service, I'm so glad to see the turnout today. May God be with you, children" the priest said, ending the service at the state penitentiary. "Castiel, son, could you please help me clear the altar," the priest said, looking at him. Castiel got up from his spot while the rest of his fellow prisoners began to file out of the Room. Once a choir boy, always a choir boy, Castiel thought to himself. As he was putting away things in the black doctor's bag that the priest carried, he saw from the corner of his eye that Cain, who was the last one to leave, came slowly to a halt in front of the priest. The priest, who was busy looking into his book, looked up. "Father, I would like to offer a confession," Cain requested.

"Surely my son," he said, turning to Castiel. "Thank you Castiel, could you please take the bag to Benny. I'll just hear out Cain here" he said good-humouredly. Castiel nodded and took the bag, walking out of the room. On his way to Benny's office, he saw that both Patrick and Ray (Cain’s associates) were standing outside, waiting for Cain to come out. He didn't think much about it when he lost his grip and the bag fell to the floor and flew open. He stopped and closed it when he saw the book Gideon's Cross.

_“Cassie, you have to read this book, it will change your life,” Anna said handing him the book._

_“Really, why would I want to change my life,” he asked amusedly._

_“Come on Castiel, I know there is nothing you want to change, but it's a good book and the fella is just amazing, in fact you know what, you should come to one of our gatherings. It's a rewarding experience” she said with a twinkle in her eyes._

_Castiel knew all too well what the rewarding experience would be, people yelling and screaming, praising the Lord. People who were desperately searching for hope and willing to build yet another false God. He looked at Anna's face and saw the hope in her eyes and reluctantly said yes. He reached the place which was some rich oil tycoon's estate. Castiel could see why someone like the oil tycoon would be worried about God turning his back on him. He depended on God's grace for the oil fields to keep running. As he moved about the people, listening to every conversation that was happening around, he picked up the fact that all of them had a good reason to be here. The reasons ranged from sick relative to gambling debts. Anna found him in the crowd and said: "oh Castiel, Reverend Gideon will be here soon and we can start the sermon then!."  Castiel looked down at her; looking up again, he spotted two bodyguards entering; behind them, a thin wiry man with a perfect smile walked in and he saw him looking around, taking in the room as a wolf takes a look at the flock of sheep. Just behind him, he saw his uncle Zachariah walk in and Castiel felt the familiar pit in his stomach. He turned to look away from him and saw the bathroom door. He quickly made his way through the crowd and found himself in a lavish toilet which seemed more like the toilet for a swanky hotel with three stalls. Castiel turned towards the wash basin and turned on the faucet to put some cold water on his face. He studied his face in the mirror and decided he would quietly leave once the service started. As he turned around, he bumped into someone. "Hello there, you must be Castiel"_

_"Uh, yes" Castiel replied hesitantly._

_"Oh my, you're quite the looker, hard to believe that you are Zachariah's relative" he laughed._

_Castiel smiled at him and looked at him impassively. He couldn't believe that this guy who was an evangelist preaching the word of God was hitting on him in front of his two bodyguards. "Well, I'll see you outside," Castiel said trying to get away from his hungry eyes that seemed like they would pop out of his head. As he moved forward, Gideon's bodyguards stopped him and Castiel turned around to look at him incredulously. "Excuse me!"_

_"Pretty face, why don't you come closer, I would love to look into those blue eyes," Gideon said, pulling Castiel's arm. He proved to be stronger than he looked and Castiel found himself against the wall, trapped between the arms on both sides. "Now that I have your attention, how about a little tumble before I go for my big speech," he said, grinning at him lasciviously._

_"I'm not that kind of a ..." Castiel said struggling to find his voice._

_"I know exactly what you are" and with this, he unbuckled Castiel's belt and his hand reached to undo the buttons._

_Castiel couldn't believe this was happening again, like he was back in the high school bathroom, when the curious bully wanted to touch him. That time Lucifer had barged in and hit the guy hard - but that wasn't going to happen again, Castiel had to defend himself. He arched into the touch and felt the pastor's hands go limp around him. As he moaned the two guards left them alone to stand outside. Castiel aimed his kick right between Gideon’s  legs and the Reverend fell to his knees. He walked past him and picked up the vase and hid behind the door. As one of the guards came inside to check, he thrashed the vase on his head and pushed the other guy outside into the people standing outside the bathroom. The party went silent and he almost ran out of the 3-storey lavish apartment on the 8th street, one of the really posh neighbourhoods in the city._

A shiver ran through Castiel's body as he remembered that night, he had seen the true face of Richard (Dick) Gideon. He never spoke about that night to anyone, not even Anna, who informed him that uncle Zack was very angry at the scene he witnessed. Of course, that was my fault too, he thought. He reached Benny and saw that the father was hurrying back too. Castiel began to walk back to his cell when he bumped into the priest and the Bible fell out of his hands. Castiel got down to his knees to pick it up when he saw the small piece of paper. He cleverly snatched the piece of paper and handed the book back to the unsuspecting priest. Once alone, Castiel opened the folded piece of paper; in beautiful handwriting, it only showed one name: Dean Winchester.

Now he knew that Dean was the target and people outside of these walls would take care of him.

 


	20. Chapter 20

After a long night of sleuthing with Leona, Dean was dead tired and was sleeping when the phone rang. His hand scrambled to the table to pick up his phone and he answered without opening his eyes "hello,"

"Hello, Dean," said a voice that sounded like sandpaper. Dean's eyes snapped out of their slumber and he replied, "Cas?"

"Dean, I want to talk to you, when are you coming to work?" asked Castiel.

"Can't hold yourself back, huh?" Dean chided and then realised what he had just said.

Castiel cleared his throat nervously and said "um, I need to tell you something...Benny is saying that my time is already up."

"Okay, I'll be there in another 40 minutes top," he said getting out of bed. He realised that he needed to speak to Castiel as well. He wanted to ask him a few questions about what he had found at Guy Salieri's house. Last night Leona and he had found that most of the cameras had been disabled at Salieri’s house; they were not sure if this had been done before or after the murder. He came into work with a renewed enthusiasm; went straight to his office and found Benny outside talking to one of the guards. As they saw Dean walk in, the corridor outside his office was cleared and everyone went back to their work. He called Benny inside his office.

“Castiel is not here. He left as soon as the call was over. He told me to tell you to meet him in the laundry, but may I add that this is a bad idea? He is an unstable prisoner, and meeting him in an isolated spot would not be such a good idea.”

Dean only smiled at this and began to walk out of his office towards the laundry. He realised that he must be close to the laundry room when he heard the loud buzz of the huge washing machines and the dryers. During this time of the day, laundry was very secluded, as most of the prisoners were let out to soak some sun (and nowadays to play some games and grab some exercise) in the morning. Dean walked in cautiously, taking in his surroundings and searching for Castiel; but he could not see anyone.

All of a sudden, a hand gripped him and turned him around. Dean came to face to face with the blue eyes of Castiel Novak as he pulled him into the corner next to a dryer. He pushed Dean against the wall and looked out from the corner to see if they were alone. When Castiel was about to remove his hand, Dean held onto it and pulled him closer. Dean saw a small smile on Castiel’s face and felt his grip loosen; within a moment, he switched places and now it was Castiel who found himself pushed against the wall. Dean slowly closed the distance between them and landed a hungry kiss on Castiel’s  pale pink lips. At first, he felt Castiel trying to push him away; but soon the very hands that were resisting him were now in his hair, trying to pull him closer, as though Castiel wanted the two of them to become one body, one soul. It may have been the feeling of lack of oxygen or the sheer giddiness that Castiel was now full-fledged responding to his advances; Dean then pulled himself away to look into Castiel’s eyes again.

He saw a reflection of himself in Castiel’s blue eyes, filled with lust and want. Castiel's hand moved from his towards Dean’s shirt and he placed tender kisses on Dean's neck. Dean closed his eyes and revelled in the sensation of Castiel's lips. His hands reached Castiel's orange zipper. He pulled it down and at the same time he realised that Castiel had managed to unbutton his shirt… his hands were now ghosting over naked parts that were visible over his undershirt. Dean pulled off the upper half of his jumpsuit - but then Castiel pushed him away. He fixed Dean with his gaze, and then he pulled off his own undershirt. Dean stared lustfully at his wiry, yet strong, well-chiselled body. Castiel crooked a finger and Dean almost launched himself at him, covering his body with his own. As Dean was kissing him frantically, thinking that maybe this was just a dream and he might wake up anytime, Castiel pushed off his shirt. Dean eagerly got rid of his undershirt, and both relished the first skin on skin touch. Dean began to kiss Castiel's naked torso, slowly moving down south following the delicious treasure trail. He felt Castiel’s breath hitch as he reached the end of the trail and pulled the zipper further down. Dean looked up at Castiel who was biting his lips; a smile ghosted over Dean's face as he pulled the jumpsuit down, along with Castiel’s underwear.

He breathed over Castiel's now erect penis.

"No!" Castiel said.

Dean raised himself to face Castiel, to see if maybe he had read the signals wrong.

Castiel looked at him and moaned, "Fuck me, Dean", then turned around, his back facing Dean now. Dean spotted the marks of his baton on Castiel's perfect pale back; he moved his tender hands over the other man’s back, took them further down, to the curves of his ass. Castiel moved into his touch.

"Please..." His voice sounded more gravelly, desperate. Dean cleared his throat when the realisation dawned on him that most of his life he had been with women and he had no idea how it worked with guys. Castiel took Dean's hands and sucked on two of his fingers. Now it was Dean's turn to bite his lips, as this was the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

Castiel directed his wet fingers towards his ass. Dean understood the mechanics of this and inserted two fingers into Castiel's hole. Castiel stopped with a gasp of pain.  

"Did I hurt you, Cas?"

“No, you are doing good, stretch me good," he said, pushing his ass on Dean's fingers. Dean felt a little more confident listening to Castiel's sexy moans and added the third and fourth finger. "Dean, enough preparation, get your cock inside me" Castiel moaned breathlessly. Dean obeyed him, opening his belt buckle and dropping his pants down to see his cock was already glistening with pre-come. He gave it a few pumps and positioned himself, entering Castiel.

Their breath hitched.

“Cas, you okay?"

"Never felt better..." He leant into Dean. Dean, on the other hand, was getting used to the tight and warm feeling of Castiel and let out a delicious moan. "Dean, please move," Castiel asked tenderly. Dean snapped his hips into Castiel gently.

"Harder!" Castiel growled.

"Fuck me like you always wanted, Dean, don't worry, I can take it" Castiel commanded. Dean pumped into Castiel now, harder and faster; the only thing audible for the next few moments was the sound of the machines buzzing, moaning, and the slapping of skin on skin. Dean placed soft kisses on Castiel's shoulder; he realized that he would be coming soon; that was when his hands gripped Castiel’s erection and began to pump him. Both men were lost in the revelry and ecstasy as they both came at the same time. Both ended up with each other's names on their lips.

They stood there, Dean falling on Castiel, who was leaning against the wall for support.

"I love you", Dean whispered.

Castiel's body went rigid under him and there was nothing but the machines working

"Please, don't", Castiel cautioned after a long silence. "You can't..." he disentangled himself from Dean.

"Why not?", Dean asked.

"Don't you listen to anything I say? I said I am cursed",  Castiel said exasperatedly.

"Cursed or not, I want you, Cas," Dean said, staring at Castiel’s back.

"I am a murderer, Dean! I ...." he was stopped mid-sentence when Dean kissed him.

Castiel pulled away, "Dean, please, don't make it more complicated than it already is," he said, looking around. "I called you here to show you this", and he handed over a note to Dean.

"What is this supposed to mean?" Dean asked, frowning at the note.

"They want you dead, Dean. Cain gave this to the priest. They want to stop you from all these changes, uncovering who the soldiers are,  and saving me. I deserve this, Dean.”

Castiel turned his face away from Dean and began to pull up his jumpsuit. Dean caught his shoulders and turned him back around to see the tears trickling down his cheeks.

"I don't care about this, Castiel", Dean threw away the note. "No amount of death threats or notes are going to scare me away from you. I no longer care what happens to me. Castiel, I am going to protect you, with every last breath in my body. I will love you, even if you don't want me to" he said, choking a little.

"Are you crazy? All I have ever wanted is you, but no Dean, I cannot imagine my life without you..." and he began to leave. Dean put back on his uniform and stopped him midway; Castiel looked at him, his nose and eyes red from crying.

"When you met Guy on the night of his death, was the security camera working?"

Castiel nodded his head. "Yes, he opened the door before I even rang the bell.”

\-------

Lucian was smiling to himself as he listened to Anna who was talking animatedly about the prayer meeting that they were heading too. He had learned to enjoy these small moments of joy that crept into his otherwise dreary life.

"Did I tell you that this investigator came to ask me a few questions about Cassie? I think Gabriel is planning to open his case again" she said, looking at him.

"Is that right?" he said while holding the steering wheel tightly until his knuckles turned white.

"Well, I told them all I could, I really want Castiel to come back, and you know he could not have done all those heinous things," she said, sounding genuinely hopeful.

"Hmm," he said, looking straight ahead. He knew that Anna had no malice behind what she was saying, and his recent discoveries were making him uncomfortable, made him question his own decisions. At first, it was the discovery of that obscure picture he had found, of the footprint outside of Castiel’s apartment’s  window ledge. He had been thinking about that picture when his new secretary had decided to clean his desk. She had found the picture and asked him whether she should keep it or throw it away.  He took the picture from her hands and looked at it. At first, he was confused not knowing what this picture of a bloody footprint was doing in his drawer. He turned the picture around to find a case file log number on it. He went to the evidence room and saw the box to realise that the picture belonged to Castiel's case, so he began to go through the file and realised that the picture was connected with Josh Parker’s murder.

_He remembered the scene of the crime as he was taking in the horror of the murder scene and getting over the shock and disappointment of arresting his youngest brother as the serial killer he had been looking for for the past seven months. One of the photographers on scene called out to him, and Lucian went to the window to find a bloody footprint on the outside of the windowsill. Lucian had decided that he would look at the clue along with all the others._

_"During Training - remember they told us that sometimes there are many anomalies in a crime scene, some are relevant, others are just there to throw us off the scent", Crowley had told him._

"Luci, I said that it was great to work on that Walker case, how did you guys find it out?" Anna asked, breaking his chain of thought.

"Oh, we found one of the 'heroes’ was busy selling away stuff that he stole from the church" he answered, turning into the driveway of yet another fancy mansion, of yet another one of Gideon's followers.  He turned into the driveway of the mansion when Anna said, "And? Come on, tell me the whole thing!"

"You know I am not supposed to discuss my cases with people," he said, a slight smile pulling up the corners of his lips.

"Oh, so I am just people now," she said frowning.

"No, um, okay," he said as he got out of the car and gave the keys to the valet, saying, "Well, we then spoke to Walker and he told us the whole story. Who really was responsible for all the murder and mayhem."

"Oh wow, um, can I ask you something? Promise me you won't get mad", she asked her innocent eyes on him.

He glanced at her; she was still looking at him with those big eyes.

"Do you think Castiel really did it?"

He saw the earnest hope behind that question and decided to come clean to her.

"To be honest, in the last few days I have been increasingly unsure. See, it was the Walker case that has brought new evidence to light. Walker had found this car, a red Lincoln LS, near his neighbourhood. We found some stuff inside it, and this car has actually also been seen at two of the crime scenes in Castiel’s cases. I found the engine number and sent it in for further investigation. Let’s see where it goes from there, if Crowley had not been sick, I think we would have made some headway soon. Well, and there is another lead that I am looking at...." his speech slurred and his vision began to darken as he felt his face touching the gravel road leading to the mansion.   

\-----

Leona was excited to go to the office and share her findings of last night with Ash.  

They both had come in early to compare notes. Ash greeted her with a cup of coffee.

“thank you”, she said. “You won’t believe the night I had,” she said, taking a sip of the coffee.

“Well, good for you. You really needed to get back into the dating scene,” he said winking at her.

Leona looked at him incredulously. “Not in that way, idiot! I met Dean last night and we decided to check out a few of the murder scenes.”

Throwing the climbing hook in Ash's direction.ä, she went on, “This is not just it, we also found a secret camera which was recording, but they did not hook it up to the main system. It did record the night of the murder. This was in the opposite office building of the Ritz Carlton hotel, where John Brady was murdered. We managed to get a copy of that night's recording, and guess what - there were folks who were on top of the terrace and threw an anchor with the climbing wire just next to the room where John was staying.”

“Holy Shit! this is big news - how come the police missed this?” Ash asked.

“Oh, that's not the only thing they missed, turns out that all the security cameras outside Guy Salieri’s house were also disabled - after Castiel came in. The last image before Castiel reached the house is that of a red Lincoln.Speaking of Guy... I found out last night that both John Brady and Guy were in the same orphanage. Saint Judes.” She related her last night’s findings to an awestruck Ash.

“Oh, this is brilliant... we can get on with this! And you won't believe what I did after I went home. I managed to track down Josh Parker's sister since the father is nowhere to be seen. The sister also works under a changed name, in a Walmart. I spoke to her and she told me that her father removed himself completely from all the child rights work that he did after Josh's death. He was afraid that something might happen to her as well. In fact, her father moved away with her and got back together with her estranged mother,  somewhere in the countryside. He is now working as some small-time lawyer in a small town. She had to fight with him after she got an admission at the City College in order to come back. Her father let her go on one condition - that she would not use her real name and instead use an alias”, Ash explained.

“Did you get an address?” Leona asked with piqued interest.

“Of course I did, now I have done my work, but you are gonna need some serious convincing in order to tell this guy to relate anything to us,” Ash said looking out of the window.

“Alright... so I guess we need to move soon since the address is at least a three-hour drive away,” she said, looking at the address that Ash had written down.

“And oh, by the way, we will get the copy of Brady's interview that he gave Benjamin at the end of the evening,” Ash informed her.

Ash and Leona got into the car and began driving Leona’s freshly out of the garage car to meet Josh Parker's father, William Parker.

As they were driving out towards the countryside, Leona became aware of a huge hoarding on the left side of the road, which announced a massive religious meeting of Gideon's Church. When she spotted the ornate cross which was a symbol at the bottom right corner of the hoarding, she suddenly told Ash to stop the car. Ash pulled over and she got out, asking, “Where have you seen this?”

“Seen what”, Ash asked distractedly.

“The cross, Ash, I think I've seen it somewhere”, she said, trying to jog her recent memory -suddenly it clicked in her mind. She opened her laptop and played the file from Brady's murder scene. “Look, here - the guy who disables the camera! That ring, it's the same ring!”, she cried, pointing at the screen and then at the banner.

“You think it was somebody from Luther Gideon’s cult?” Ash asked, looking at the screen.

“Well, unless they don't just hand out those rings I don't think it could be anyone else,” she murmured,  fishing for her phone. “I need to tell this to Dean, he was wracking his brains last night about this ring.”

She quickly typed a message to Dean about her discovery and they were back on the road.

Clayton Springs was a lovely little town, tucked away into the mountains at the edge of a lake.

They drove into the town and stopped in front of a nondescript building which said “Harrow and Fields law firm”.

“Hello, my name is Leona Hornstaff and this is my assistant.  We are looking for William Parker. We booked an appointment for my divorce proceedings” she said, speaking to the receptionist.

“Oh yes, you guys are from the city,” said the chirpy secretary, clearly excited to see city folks.

They were shown into a waiting room for clients and just then a beautiful blonde with big blue eyes walked in behind them.  She must not have been more than 21 years old. Ash got up and she hugged him “I knew I would find you guys here, after what you said last night, it got me thinking about Josh. To tell you the truth, my father was never convinced of the explanation that the police gave us. And I thought that father would at least contest this thing in court when the defence of the other guy got in touch with him, but instead, he just comes in one night and tells me and mom that we need to come with him. He told us that we were leaving the city. I'm just here so that I can help you guys convince my father to tell the truth and bring justice to Josh” she said explaining herself.

“How are you so sure that it wasn't Castiel?” Leona asked.

“I don't know if it's Castiel or not, I know this much though: that my father knew the truth, but chose to remain silent, and I really want to know why,” she said, looking at Leona and Ash. The conversation was interrupted midway when Mr Parker walked in and began to look at the three people in the room.

“What is happening here? Claire Honey, what are you doing here?”, questioned Parker with tired eyes.

“Dad, please take a seat” Claire replied calmly.

“Hello, my name is Leona Hornstaff and this is Ash… we are here to talk about your son's death,” she said in a composed and authoritative tone.

"You are wasting your time. I have said this before and I will say it again: I don't want to talk about it," the man replied, getting agitated.

"Sir, you were never satisfied with the verdict -  then why would you still remain quiet?" Leona soldiered on with her questions.

"I have a family, Miss, I need to think about them first" he replied, still angry.

"This was not the first time that people threatened you, you are a child rights lawyer after all," Leona said stoically.

"Yeah, but this was the first time they killed my son, and I would like to keep it that way" he replied, sadness creeping into his voice.

"Dad, please, do not hide behind me and mom," Claire said, rising from her chair.

"Claire, you have no idea what is happening here!" he said, fear now replacing the sadness in his voice.

"I know exactly what is happening here dad, you are walking away from the right thing. I am sure Josh deserves more, dad" she said, trying to keep her voice from choking with tears.

"Josh is dead and I need to start thinking about the rest of my living family," he said pragmatically.

"Living? Really, dad, you call our home living? Mom's surviving on pills and you have turned to the bottle. And I escaped the reality of our house, we all know what happened to Josh was wrong and the fact that we aren't doing anything about it is tearing this family apart. What exactly are you fighting for, dad?" Claire said, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Claire...I...." William Parker was quiet now.

"Mr Parker, she is right, you need to do what is right, your son needs justice. He is like all those kids who came to you looking for justice and asking for punishment to people who had wronged them” Leona said, placing a hand on his.

He looked up at them with tears streaming down his face, turned to Leona and then to Claire who was crying as well. She said, "Daddy, please, for Josh, for us" she pleaded. With this, he opened his arms and Claire hugged him tightly. He turned to Leona and Ash saying "Okay, I will talk about this. You have your witness."

\------

"Sam, the necklace is perfect and it goes great with the dress and the ring. Thanks so much! When are you coming home?" Ruby said excitedly over the phone.

"I’m glad that you like it. Listen, Ruby, I have some work, don't wait up for me. I'm going out with some of the guys from the office" he lied to her. As he kept the receiver, he looked over his office and looked at the golden nameplate, wondering how soon this might change into ‘Governor Winchester’ one of these days. He smiled dryly at that thought, thinking sadly to himself, yeah more people will know me, but I will hardly know any one of them. He held a drink in one hand when Jo peeked her head inside, "I'm heading home for the day, see you tomorrow boss. Oh, by the way, I know we have received an email from Gabriel Novak, about re-opening the Novak case, but we are still waiting for the hard copy. They told me that they'll send someone over, will you be here?"

"Huh, yeah... I'll be here for some time" Sam replied distractedly.

As Jo closed the door behind her, Sam sat down on his chair and rested his feet on the table. He looked at the dark clouds outside that gave a midnight blue tinge to the whole place. Looking at the sky he realised that it would be raining soon. He took another swig from the bottle of scotch and closed his eyes.

Had he heard it right - that someone from Gabriel’s firm would drop in the memo? He felt a strange tinge of excitement and wished that it would be Leona. Oh, how he longed to see her, he remembered how pretty she looked when she had smiled at him before getting out of that taxi. He figured that she must have come to know about the Walker case. She seemed like the only person who was happy with that, the mayor and later the governor had both told him that this was a total shameful issue for the administration. And not to mention the loss of funding from one of their biggest donors to the party. Moreover, Ruby seemed to be on her father’s side when she had completely refused to talk about the issue during dinner. It seemed like everyone around him wanted him to pretend like he was the man for the job, but not really do anything. They liked him for what he represented, but not when he decided to actually do what he had always wanted to do. The helplessness was choking him... on the other hand, the phone calls and emails had flown off the handle when the party representative and the governor personally had called him and Ruby for dinner. They had almost made it clear that Sam was their party’s candidate for the governor in next year’s election. The mayor had made sure that the news had spread far and wide, and people had been calling him to confirm the news. Sam was told to be polite and refuse to say anything concrete.

He took a sip of the amber liquid and opened his second drawer where he kept all his secret memories of Leona locked in. He opened it and felt around to find a picture of him and her when they had moved into their new house here. She had been so sweet and knew exactly what was on Sam’s mind, sometimes even he did not know how much he needed it. It could be that word of encouragement, the voice of reason, the sound of his conscience, or that soothing touch that she gave him when he was working too late... but most importantly he missed her warm body and her rose scent that made him forget everything else in the world.  

His chain of thought was broken when he heard a knock on the door and Leona peeked her head inside "oh, I was looking for Jo."

“Uh, that is fine, what is it?” Sam said disbelieving his luck and yet thanking the whole universe for this happy coincidence.

“I am here with the notice about the reopening of the case for Castiel Novak” she replied hesitantly.

“Why are you getting it?” Sam looked down in confusion thinking to himself: Why would he ask this stupid question?

“Ash was supposed to bring it, but he had to leave early, so I offered to help him” she replied.

“Okay, well... I am not exactly complaining, I was just thinking of you” he said. “Come in,” he said, rising from his chair.

“No it is okay,” she said, moving towards the door.

“Please”, Sam pleaded.

He saw her reluctantly come further into the office. "So, what do I need to do with this?" he asked her, looking at the letter she gingerly placed in front of him.

"You need to give it a stamp and a “received” signature,” she said, pointing to where the stamp was supposed to go.

"Ah yes, now where did I keep that stamp," Sam said and stumbled near his table.

Leona quickly moved next to him and helped him up. As he pulled himself up, he slipped his free arm around Leona's waist and tried to pull her close. She immediately put her two arms in front of his chest in order to push him back. It was too late as Sam now had her in his arms, "Sam, please let go" she pleaded. He pulled her even closer and saw her hands lie flat on his chest rather than protesting; he then lowered his head to kiss her.

Leona's struggle against him had stopped and he picked her up slightly and brought their faces close to each other, ending the distance between them with a kiss. The passion was matched on both sides as Sam explored about her mouth and she was more than eager to let him in. Sam picked her up completely and placed her on the table. Her hands were in his hair and while Sam was pushing her skirt up, she pushed away, gasping for air. She looked down at Sam's hand and tried to push it away, but Sam pushed forward between her legs. He saw her lower her gaze, exposing her neck, Sam gained confidence and nuzzled his head into the small of her neck. What started as light pecking went into a full-blown nicking and biting in a matter of seconds. A small moan escaped her throat, and she held Sam's arm. Meanwhile, Sam's hands wandered around her skirt and pulled down her stockings along with her shoes. As Sam inched forward Leona moved back and she was lying flat on his table. Sam looked at her and gave her a satisfied grin, telling her that she was finally where she belonged. He saw her turn her head to one side as Sam moved forward, unbuttoning her shirt and revealing a lovely satin dark blue bra. He moved his hands over her brown skin and closed his eyes, pressing his nose to her bosom to take in her smell. Leona placed her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him away, "Sam, we can't, I can't".

He looked up to see her pleading with him, but Sam was too far gone in the world of sensations and he moved forward, placing kisses on her stomach to her chest.

"Sam! please! you are getting married to someone else...Let me go" she tried to push him helplessly. Sam heard a sob escape her and got up, not completely out of his daze fueled by scotch and lust.

"This is not happening again, I need to go, please  get off me!"

"I am not..."  Sam's speech slurred.

She was pushing herself up, trying to escape him, but Sam caught her leg and pulled her down right under him.

"Why do you have to be so difficult, Leona? Why won't you just listen?"

"Listen to what, Sam! Be your whore? Just please - stop" she said, placing her hands on his chest, trying to keep a distance between them. Sam placed his hand on her waist and pulled her close, "Sam I said no, you can't!”

"You should have thought about that before I put you here, I am not letting you go. I should not have let you go back then...I am not making the same mistake again" and with this, he kissed her neck once again. He could feel her writhing under him, trying to move and escape him once again.

"Stop it!"

After that, Sam felt his vision go blurry.

He got up from his position and saw that Leona had hit him with one of the pictures of ruby on his head. He was trying to gain his vision back, but he could hear her scramble to her feet. Just as he gained his vision, he saw her opening the door of his office; in two strides, he crossed the distance and held the door closed.

"You are not walking out on me again Leona, what is it that keeps you away from me? Is it because I am selling out or is it the fact that I could achieve whatever you could not" he pulled her closer, "why are you walking away from me when you clearly want this" he said, nuzzling into her neck. "I can give you whatever you want, just don't leave"

"It’s ....over...Sam" she said through her tears "I have made my choice," she said, pulling her face away from him.

He let go of her and said "No, stop saying that, it is not over", sadness creeping in his voice.

He pulled her at her arm and said: "I am losing my way Leona, I need you to help me find my way back."

Leona caught his hand, pushed it away and walked out of the door. Sam sank down to the floor, realising that she had left him once again... and this time he really missed her.

He could not continue the facade of his life with Ruby.

  



	21. Chapter 21

Leona somehow made it out of the district attorney's office, shaking with fear. The old wounds that she had thought that she had covered up were rearing their ugly heads out of her memory. She was walking somewhere but had no idea where she was going. All of sudden she heard her phone ring and she saw it was a call from Mary. She knew she had to pick up, Mary had made it a point to call her once a week whenever she didn't see her in her café. She took a few deep breaths and put on a smile, answered the phone.

"Hey, sexy how are ya?" Dean's jolly voice greeted her.  As soon as she heard his familiar voice all the composure that she had gained was lost and she broke down.

"Leona, are you okay? Hey, Leona" Dean said trying to pacify her. "Hey, why don't you tell me where you are? I'll come get you."

Through her sobs, she was able to tell him where she was and he assured her that he would be there as soon as possible. Leona sat on the bench near the sidewalk realising that maybe she wasn't all that alone in this world. Just then a familiar dilemma gripped her when she realised - how could she tell Dean about what Sam had done to her? She couldn't, she hadn't been able to tell him the first time and nothing had changed to tell him now. He trusted her more but then she didn't want to be the girl that came between the two brothers. The last two fights between Sam and Dean had been because of her. Why was she so incredibly stupid that she didn't know when to keep her trap shut? She clenched her teeth to fight back the tears. Just as these thoughts were taking hold of her she saw the blinkers of a car on her face. The car skidded to a stop right next to her and Dean got out.

"Leona, are you okay?" Dean asked worriedly, getting out of the car.

She merely nodded and he knelt in front of her, looking deep into her eyes. She looked down and he pulled her face up to face him again. Leona couldn't hold back the tears under the intense scrutiny and care of Dean's gaze. She broke down and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm here now, come on, get a hold of yourself," Dean said, stroking her hair.

"Come on, let's go," he added, raising Leona with him. "Let’s take you home?"

"Okay" she replied meekly.

They got into the car and Dean drove with one hand on the wheel while the other rested on Leona's head. Leona finally got a grip on her emotions and she moved away from Dean's touch, resting her head on the cold window pane of the car. They finally arrived at her place and she got out with Dean in tow. Instead of the elevator, she took the stairs as she wanted no more reminders of Sam Winchester. Dean followed her into her flat, but as Leona was about to vanish in the back of the apartment, he caught her hand and indicated her to sit down on the couch. She sat there and he knelt down in front of her. He looked at her.  

"You okay now?"

She nodded her head.

"Are you lying to me?" he asked, holding her hands.

She nodded her head again.

"How about you tell me what happened, maybe that will make you feel lighter" he said soothingly. She replied moving her head sideways, gesturing no.

"Is it about Sam?" he guessed.

She looked up stunned and asked, "How did you know?"

"He's the only one capable of hurting you so bad," he said with a sad smile.

Leona felt herself welling up again.

"Leona, please don't do this" he pleaded.

"Dean he .....He..." Leona found herself stammering.

"He what?" he asked.

"Dean, he forced me..." she said and looked away not being able to meet his gaze.

"What!?" Dean asked shocked.

"I had gone to give them the subpoena and his secretary wasn't  there so I went to check and he was there..." she explained.

"Oh god, Leona, I'm so, so sorry" he apologised.

"Don't be Dean, you had nothing to do with this. It's just that I thought I would be better prepared this time around" she said closing her eyes.

"Wait - what do you mean, ‘this time around’?", Dean asked.

"This has happened before, the night of his appointment as the district attorney. We went to the party thrown in his honour by the mayor. I wasn't feeling so good and I went to find Sam when I saw him deep in conversation with a bunch of people. I turned and when I was stopped by the mayor who kind of kept pulling me to dance with him. Then he tried to pulled me close to him. I wanted Sam to intervene but he was lost. Somehow I managed to extract myself from the mayor’s grip without creating a scene but that left me feeling dirty all over. So finally after being partly molested I decided to head home. I tried to call Sam but he was too occupied so I dropped him a message and left. He came home much later and he was hammered. He wasn't the same man that I had fallen in love with, it was this soulless creature who looked at me with lust in his eyes. It was like his metamorphosis was complete and I didn't know that man anymore. So when he advanced towards me I refused and this angered him...Dean, it was so horrifying...he was so strong that I just could not fight back. A thing that felt so beautiful had turned into something so ugly. Everything about our love was tarnished that night...I lost my will that night to keep fighting for us."

She began to cry again. Dean moved forward and held her close; they stayed like that until Leona felt herself steadying. After some time she moved her head away from Dean’s chest and smiled at him. He looked at her, creasing his forehead; Leona put a hand on his shoulder and said, “thank you, Dean, I really wanted to share this with someone. I have been living with this for almost a year now. Although you were the last person on this planet who I wanted to share this with.”

Dean looked at her puzzled and asked: “Why would you say that?”

“Come on, Dean, you are his brother and I honestly do not want to be coming between the two of you. Sam will think I am trying to manipulate you”, she told Dean.

“Leona, I am not just his brother, I am your friend too. You are family too, for both me and mom. I am feeling so terrible right now that I really want to punch the daylights out of Sam’s stupid face” Dean said, clenching his teeth.

“No Dean, promise me you will not do something so stupid,” she said holding his hands.

“Come on Leona, he deserves this and more, I mean how can he be so blind. He has hurt you and yet he shows no remorse. In fact, he came over after you’d left his place and he’d helped you with the bags. You know what he said to me? ‘I have lost her Dean, I should have tried to stop her.’.” he said, looking away from her.

Something dawned on Leona’s mind and she squeezed Dean’s hand, “Dean, he said the same thing to me. When I was running away, he said I will not lose you again, Leona”

“Maybe that is it, Leona, Sam is afraid of losing you. He wanted you to be there and advise him but giving you up was the first condition to gaining his success. Anyways... none of it matters now, he should not have touched you” he said sternly. Leona caught her head that was now feeling lighter and yet throbbing with pain. “Leona, are you okay?” Dean asked.

“No, my head hurts,” she said, still catching her head. She saw Dean gently push her onto the couch, “Lie down, I will get you some coffee and Advil. That will help you with the headache”, Dean said getting up now.

“How come you have Advil?” she asked, trying to focus her attention on something other than the pain.

“Oh Cas told me it works, he told me that he used to eat these like mints after the doctor changed his medication”, he told her. Leona felt herself drifting to sleep after Dean gave her some coffee and Advil with the thought of Castiel eating Advil like mints swirling in her head.

\------

Gabriel was uncontrollably wiping his wet hands on the side of his pants as Ash was driving him to the courthouse. "Boss man, we are here," he announced.

With this he almost jumped out of the car before it came to a halt, seeing Leona running towards him.

“Good morning Gabe, you look nervous today” she observed.

“Well you do not look so good yourself either”  Gabriel retorted. She smiled and gave him the papers. “Okay, so here are the transcripts of the Brady interview that we received from Benjamin's wife. I know I should have given this to you earlier, but Ash and his friend cracked the password late last night. I have submitted a copy with the judge and Jess sent one to the prosecution as well,” she said, walking with him.

He took the evidence from her hands; they both began to climb the stairs. Gabriel stopped in his steps when he saw his brother being brought out of the police van into the court in chains and in that orange jumpsuit, being held by Dean. His heart broke when he saw that image: Castiel did not deserve this and he was going to make sure that Cassie would not endure this any longer. He noticed that Castiel was leaning and brushing himself against Dean as they were climbing the stairs. He heard Leona clear her throat and said: "let’s go."

"Uh, yeah let’s go" Gabriel replied picking up his pace again.

They sat down in the right-hand corner and he turned to look at the prosecution. Sam had just made his entrance along with his wife and two other assistants from the DA’s office. They went and sat ahead of him and set up their desk; Sam was busy reading the papers in his hands, completely oblivious to the death glares that his wife was throwing at Leona, who for some reason was fumbling with her notepad. Sam looked at his papers when he saw Leona look up at him while picking up her pencil from the floor. As Leona turned her full attention to looking inside her bag, Sam’s gaze moved to Gabriel and he merely gave him a smug smile and went to his corner.  His mind moved away from all of this when he heard the rattle of chains and saw Castiel entering. He came inside and sat next to Gabriel. Dean knelt down and removed the chains... and did he just see his baby brother exchange a quiet glance, as though they were a couple? Castiel turned around, then looked down to hide the creeping blush.

"WTF just happened," Gabriel whispered.

"Do you have everything you need, Leona?" he interrupted again before Castiel could reply.

"Yes, I do have everything. Why do you wear a scarf?" he asked, noticing the blue thing around her neck.

"Oh that is nothing," she said holding it.

"All Rise, Judge Rufus Turner, presiding over the case of Castiel Novak Vs the City" the Bailiff announced.

"Sit down, please," the judge told everyone and continued, "Now you have to tell me why the hell are we bringing back this case all over again. There better be a good reason Novak, that you are doing this for other reasons than trying to save your family" he said, looking sternly over at Gabriel. Sam looked in their direction and gave a satisfied grin.

"My client, Castiel Novak, is the perfect example of the prejudices that exist in our society even today. I will be presenting evidence and witness accounts to show how easy it is to manipulate these prejudices against someone and show them out to be guilty. This is exactly what the case has been with my client", Gabriel said and turned to look at Castiel. “We are pleading for a mistrial and through the course of this trial I would like to bring out how my client was framed for the crimes that he did not commit.”

\----

Castiel suddenly felt that all eyes in the courtroom were on him; he was hoping that all those eyes staring at him would simply just go away. He wanted to be back in the confines of his prison cell again. Leona pressed her hand on his shoulder to make him feel comfortable. He heard Gabriel extol evidence and presenting facts that he hadn't known before. He learned that all of the men in his life after Matt, namely Benjamin Thorne, John Brady, Guy Salieri and even Josh Parker were related to each other. He also learned that both John and Guy were from the same orphanage. Gabriel presented the transcripts of an interview that John had given to Benjamin Thorne of the En Vogue magazine, who unfortunately (or rather fortunately for some folks) died before he had submitted that interview. Castiel could now understand the anxiety and look of being in perpetual danger John had had on his face. Castiel had thought during that time that John was a celebrity who was in the closet and was extra cautious due to paparazzi finding out his secret.  

Gabriel always had the flair for the dramatic and he asked everyone to come to page 12 of the document. He claimed that therein lay the evidence that according to him would change the course of this case.

Castiel observed as Sam's composure was withering away as he read the transcription.

"I'm sorry your honour, this piece of evidence just came to me now, outside the courtroom", Gabriel explained to Judge Rufus, who was busy reading the transcripts himself.

The judge went through it and asked Sam if he wanted to go through this before they went ahead. Castiel saw Sam just give a tight nod to the judge, after which the judge asked them to proceed. The interview revealed that during John’s stay at the orphanage, John had been abused by one of the priests and a caretaker of the orphanage. Castiel heard the entire courtroom gasp as the names were revealed - Bishop O'Reilly of the church, and Luther Gideon.

"Objection, your honour, how does this relate to the case?" Sam spoke up.

"Patience is a virtue, counsellor," said Gabriel and the judge overruled.

The second piece of evidence was more directly related to the murder. A photograph from Frank Deveraux showed a picture of a man and woman walking outside on the street. Gabriel described it as being taken sometime after the murder of John Brady outside the hotel. Castiel didn't get the significance of the picture until the next piece of evidence was played out in the courtroom over the projector. It was a video taken from a CCTV footage of the building opposite to that of the Ritz Carlton.

"This footage is taken from the building opposite of the Ritz Carlton. As you can see, there are two individuals who are atop here - and look at the time stamp, it's just an hour before John's murder. The video clearly shows that these two people ziplined their way right next to the room from Brady's. This goes to show that there were indeed people in the room. My client in his testimony claimed that he had heard something crashing in the lounge."

The judge looked at the footage and then looked at Sam. "Mr Winchester, would you like to say something about this before we proceed?"

"Yes, your honour, I think the evidence that has been shown to us today is circumstantial at best. It does show that there have been aspects which could have been overlooked but they still do not give Mr Novak a clean slate. Moreover, I would like to know - how does my colleague explain the vanishing of his client from the building?” Sam questioned.

“Sustained,” the judge said.

"My esteemed colleague Mr Winchester forgets that his case against my client was also based on circumstantial evidence. My point today that I'm trying to prove is that we have evidence that shows that there could have been other motives at work here, which have nothing to do with my client!", he said smiling, “As for your question as to how my client made his escape, please do remember that the prosecution also had no theory for this. However, we have evidence that that night there was a new person from Pearly Whites who reported on duty, but she was later, as our investigation went on, nowhere to be found on the roll call of the company. You see, the police did question most of the staff at the hotel, however, they forgot the laundry service which collects the dirty laundry and then washes it and sends it back over to the hotel. There is a good chance that my client was transported in a state of unconsciousness, brought on by his medical condition and new meds, to his home, without being seen by anyone. To prove this, I would like to present to you the roll call register for that night and the name and address of the employee that is now missing since the night of that murder.”

Castiel heard every word and turned around to look at Leona and he bowed his head in gratitude. He looked around to Sam’s side, looking for the one person he was really longing to see.

\-----

Lucian opened his eyes and saw two people towering over him. As he tried to move, he realised that his hands and legs were tightly bound to a chair. The two men picked out his photograph of the ring from his pocket and asked "where is this ring? Where is the car?"

"I don't know what you are talking about" he replied candidly.

He was punched hard in his guts, "Let's try this over. Where is the car?"

"You do know I'm a police officer" he deadpanned.

"You do know you are only useful till you tell us something. Now tell me, where is the damn car?" the fellow who had punched him said, bringing his face very close to Lucian.

The other guy intervened, "We should ask if he found anything else? Like that other ring, from that photographer."

Lucian's interviewer moved away from him and took the other guy in the corner of the small room. "Don't tell him about that, Cain told me he has it in prison with him, now shut up and let me do the talking!"

As Lucian was listening to this, he was pulling at the loosely tied knot around his hands. His interrogators were in deep conversation when his movements bore fruit and he felt his knot loosening. He untied his hands and reached for his shoes where he always hid a small knife, a reminder from his teenage years.

"Hey, what are you doing there?" shouted one of his interrogators, and Lucian moved brusquely, pulling his knife over his chest. He removed the rope from his legs and handled the other fellow. They both fell to the floor and Lucian knew he couldn't take the door, so he looked at the window and figured he was held captive in a basement. He spotted a truck in some distance, squeezed himself out of the small window and began to crawl. A few feet away, he noticed two guards. He picked up one of the stones and threw it a far  distance ahead of them into the darkness.

They immediately ran towards it, and Lucian made a mad dash for the truck. He quietly got in, as one of the windows was left open. He hotwired the car and drove it out of the compound, driving into the forest to reach the highway that would bring him to the city. He drove like a bat out of hell and then, as he reached home by the time it was almost 8.30am, he entered his home, picked up the newspaper only  to see the headline that today was the first day of the reopening of Castiel's case. He called the DA’s office and found that Sam was in the courthouse today for the special hearing. He decided to go to the court and share his findings with Sam. As he got in the stolen car, he called the prison office and they informed him that Dean Winchester was also at the hearing today.

\---

The court was recessed for an hour and a half when Dean squeezed Castiel's hand who looked at him with a genuine smile. As Dean was about to take Castiel’s hands into his own, Gabriel came towards them. He moved his attention away from Gabriel and Cas when Gabriel gave him a dirty look. He saw his brother Sam brush past Leona who cowered into the corner. He excused himself from Castiel and followed his brother into the bathroom.

"Hey, Dean," Sam said noticing his brother in the bathroom mirror.

"Hey Sammy, that's quite a bruise you have there?" Dean said point to the red and almost swollen bruise near his left eye.

"Oh nothing, got a little drunk last night and hit my head," he said washing his hands.

"Bullshit”, Dean said under his breath when Sam replied “Excuse me?”

"I said bullshit, Sam, I know it was Leona who hit you last night," Dean said.

"Wow, I'm impressed by her ability to manipulate the facts and your gullibility to trust her," Sam said looking at him in the mirror.

"Seriously Sam, that's what you are amazed at,but nothing amazes you about yourself? How can you completely brush something so serious away as though it is nothing? What amazes me is  the lack of remorse and how unperturbed you are about this claim” Dean said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

"Lack of remorse? Why should I feel remorse? I like her and I wanted her to spend some time with me" he replied dryly.

"Sam, what the hell is wrong with you, how can you say something like this about Leona”, Dean asked confused.

“Dean, you know what, I am tired of your self-righteous bullshit. In fact not just yours, but hers as well. I am going to do whatever damn well I please” Sam replied, turning to speak to Dean. Dean completely lost all kinds of self-control and punched Sam right on this nose. “You come near her next time Sam, I will forget that you are my brother,” Dean said, handing a tissue to Sam. He took the tissue and bolted out of the room in a jiffy, straightening his tie with one hand. While Dean  was washing his hands, angrily staring at his reflection in the mirror, the door of the bathroom opened and Lucian Novak walked in. Dean looked at the guy who seemed to be like someone who had been into a major scuffle. He turned to Dean and said, "You're just the man I was looking for."

Dean crooked his eyebrow up and Lucian looked at himself. "I'll explain later, but now I need your help to save Cassie. Do you have a prisoner named Cain?"

Dean merely nodded his head.

"I think he's withholding crucial evidence that kind of proves Castiel's innocence."

"Why should I trust you, Gabriel is bleeding the prosecution dry," Dean asked.

"Yeah, but he's gonna need concrete evidence that Castiel didn't commit those crimes, and he's gonna need a name for it. I just want you to go and talk to this guy, he has Castiel's ring which puts Castiel into a car we found abandoned, and I think it is the car that has been used in carrying out the murders", Lucian said bluntly.

Dean still looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what this man's game was, was it Sam who had put him up to this? The man moved closer and put a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"Listen, you do this, I have a couple of evidence shots and some CCTV footage that show this car in the vicinity of at least three crime scenes. I guarantee you that I will be a witness for the defence if you do this for me and our DA refuses to use the evidence. The case is over by noon tomorrow, I can guarantee that to you", Lucian explained.

"Okay, I'll go talk to the guy", Dean smiled at Lucian and went out of the courthouse.

He drove as fast as he could, back to the prison. He entered the prison gates and called Benny "Where is Cain?"

"In his cell, sir," Benny replied.

"Call him to the office, now,"  he said, passing a chit to Benny.

"Okay sir," Benny said, walking towards the cells and opening the note.

Dean paced in his office like a caged animal when the door opened and Cain and Benny walked in. "Benny, please stand outside" he ordered.

Cain looked at the closing door with a raised eyebrow.

"So, I have enough evidence to make sure you don't see the light of the day for the rest of your life. How about you spill the beans about who's behind the framing of Castiel Novak?" Dean said bluntly.

"Evidence about what? I haven't done anything wrong, officer" Cain replied, feigning ignorance.

"Is that right?" Dean placed a flash drive, a picture and a note with his name on it in front of him. "This is evidence from one of your members about your role in running a prison gang which has killed many folks here in prison. This is evidence from CCTV pics that you have in fact killed John Brady. Finally, a note where you plotted to kill me and passed on the note to the priest" Dean extolled.  

Cain stood motionless, the only sign of stress that showed was that the smile on his face had vanished. All Dean got a sa warning was a flash of orange before he found himself pinned under the guy who was growling at him like a mad dog. Dean was struggling to breathe under the chokehold of the man, when he managed to stretch his hand and pull the chair onto Cain.

As Cain tried to push the chair above his head he loosened his grip on Dean's neck. Dean now pushed him backwards, and as Cain fell off of him he moved on top of him.

"Be good boy, before I break every bone in your body" Dean growled in anger.

"Bite me," he replied,  so Dean took out his baton and hit him across his face.

"Where the hell are Castiel's things?" Dean asked.

"Oh, you and your pretty boy are going to face the consequences of your sins," he said smiling and showing off his bloody teeth. Dean got up and kicked him in the stomach. That's when Benny walked in and latched himself onto Dean to pull him away.

"Sir, it's done, please back off!"

"What?" Cain asked right when Dean kicked him in the face.

He grinned and presented the ring to him. Dean smiled.

"Get this guy to a doctor,” he said, looking at the now unconscious Cain on the floor.

 


	22. Chapter 22

Dean and Castiel entered the room, frantically tearing at each other's clothes. Dean had waited till Castiel went through the paperwork, he had kept most of the paperwork ready when the orders came in. Gabriel had annihilated the opposition over the course of two days. The first day he presented the evidence that Leona and Dean had helped put together. The second day of the trail he saw his brother struggle to prove that the case of the prosecution was foolproof. What finally sealed the deal was when officer Lucian Novak spoke to Sam.     
Since Dean was processing Castiel specially, and as he saw Cas standing there in a dress shirt, his sleeves folded, he could not wait to touch him.    
"Officer, this is highly inappropriate to get me here at your place," Castiel said huskily, moving into Dean’s touch. Dean could not believe that at one moment he was thinking about Castiel, sitting alone in this very house - and now he was here with Castiel, grabbing the clothes off his body.   
"I think this will be a better way to keep an eye on you," Dean said, nuzzling into small curve of his neck from behind. Castiel pushed him back and Dean landed in a chair behind him; Castiel turned around, fixing Dean with an intensely sexy gaze. He bit his lips while slowly removing his tie and then his jacket, then moving on very slowly with his shirt.    
"Oh you know exactly how pretty you look doing this, Cas you are driving me crazy," Dean said without hiding the lust in his voice. Castiel, now half naked, sat in Dean's lap with his legs on both sides of Dean trapping him. He bit Dean's ear, making Dean let out a delicious moan that turned into a growl. 

"Dammit Cas, stop teasing me."   
"I am going to have some fun with you, enjoy you bit by bit," Cas said, pressing himself against Dean. Castiel's hands moved over Dean's shirt and removed it - having pulled off his t-shirt, too,he began to place small kisses across his naked torso, ghosting his lips over Dean's lips  Dean lost his control and he pushed Castiel and himself on the floor; as he held Castiel down with his body, he looked at the other man’s smiling face.

"I love you, Castiel."   
"Dean, don't say that," Castiel said, still smiling.   
"Why?” Dean asked confused.    
“Cause I love you too, and I did not want to say that so soon," he said, laughing again. Dean smiled again and kissed him. They both were busy enjoying each other's company when somewhere in Dean's two bedroom flat a window was opening up from the outside.

\-----  
  
“Truth is rarely pure and never simple”, this quote from Oscar Wilde had been used by Gabriel today and this was the most simple terms Sam could explain his life in at this moment. Sam could remember the small smile that Leona had given him, he took that as a sign that he had done something right. But that smile had also helped him make up his mind as to what he wanted in his life. Things were not going to be so easy, but then he had to try to make things right again. He wanted a life which did not make him feel burdened; he wanted to feel the same lightness that he had seen in one of the witnesses of the defence, William Parker, Josh Parker’s father. The man sat there, recounting everything that he felt that was wrong with the investigation of his son’s death, from how a left-handed Castiel had managed to hit his son on the left side of his head (rather than the opposite direction), or how Castiel had even managed to get up to even let his son in after the heavy dose of medication that he had taken before Josh had left him earlier to make him dinner. He also confirmed that he had been threatened to leave the city through phone and a letter hand-delivered to his office.    
“Why the sudden change of heart, Mr Parker?” Sam asked when he took over the questioning.   
“Hmm, that is ironic, my wife and daughter for whose lives I feared the most asked me to come here today. They wanted justice for Josh and I think that is what matters in the end, that is why we do it, is it not, Mr Winchester?” he questioned, looking deeply into the eyes of Sam as though he could see his tainted soul. The case seemed to move even farther away from Sam’s grasp when Gabriel presented the evidence of Advil that had been mixed with Demerol-D - with a side effect which led to blackouts. This gave more credence to Castiel's claim that he had no memory of the event; there was a good chance that he was truly unconscious during three of the four murders.

As Sam was trying to plug the hole in the sinking ship of the prosecution, the judge gave a short recess for 10 minutes. He felt a short tap on his shoulder from behind, and officer Novak came behind him.    
“Counselor, I think we might have a problem,” he said to Sam.   
He held the bridge of his nose and said, “Really, officer Novak, I am dying out here” he said, “What is it?”   
“I think he's innocent. They seem to have a very crucial evidence that puts Castiel in safe zone here. If they dig any further, we are going to be in some big trouble” Novak said, handing over a file.   
“What the hell do you mean?” Sam said, getting annoyed.   
“While investigating the Lebron Walker case we came across a car that was used in the case, a Lincoln LS,  that allegedly belonged to Mr Walker. On further investigation, we found that this car was found abandoned by LeBron and his boss Tiney. We also learned from the engine number that this car was hired by a man and woman in the neighbouring state. Not just that this car has been photographed or captured in CCTV footage in at least three of the four crime scenes of this case. We also recovered a ring from the Walker case which the Robson boy stole from Walker. Now Walker told us that he found that ring in this red Lincoln LS that he and his boss Tiney had found a few nights ago before the church robbery. This ring belongs to the guy who hired the Lincoln - he is currently in prison with Castiel,” Lucian explained.   
“Oh God,” Sam exclaimed.   
“Mr Winchester, this prisoner has tried to kill Castiel in the prison twice” Lucian whispered in Sam’s ear as both of them rose from their seats, as he saw the judge enter the room.   
“Oh come on, why the hell did you even pursue this clue chain, Novak! Both of us could be out of a job if this comes out” he said looking at him.   
“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth,” Lucian Novak said, quoting from the bible, and rested back in his seat.    
Sam looked down, pondering on the lines he had just heard when he heard a throat clear.    
"Counselor Winchester, would you mind sharing with the class?" the judge had said.   
He got up after reading the file in front of him and went to the judge's desk.

"I need to speak with you and Mr Novak. Some new evidence has come to light for which I would like to speak with the two of you" he explained.    
The judge begrudgingly accepted his request. They went into the judge’s chamber, where Sam said, “The prosecution would like to settle the case.”   
"Why, may I ask?" Judge Rufus asked, the confusion evident in his voice.    
"Officer Novak has stumbled on some new evidence which is throwing a new light on this whole case. So we would like to settle the case and pursue the investigation" he said, looking down at his hands.   
“Have you considered this well, Counselor?” Rufus said.   
“Trust me, sir, this changes the whole game and we would like to save some face here,” he said dejectedly.     
The judge turned to Gabriel, who said "I want my client to be offered an immediate release from the state county prison and police protection until the investigation is complete. I can personally guarantee that he will not leave the city."   
“How about this? We move him to a minimum security prison immediately and offer police protection” Sam bargained.   
“No deal, he has to leave now, or we investigate further and show how incompetent the state is,” Gabriel said, getting annoyed.   
"Hmm, Mr Winchester, do you agree to that?"   
"Yes, of course" he agreed desolately.    
"Well, it's settled then. I think if both parties agree I have no option but to declare the case null and void" the judge said, looking at both of them.   
Sam saw the cheers go out when Castiel stood up and hugged Gabriel and then his brother tightly. The rest of his day went by in a daze, as both he and officer Novak faced the brunt of the ire of the Mayor and the Governor who made sure that there would be consequences for both of them. Things had not calmed down when Sam just got up from his chair and faced both the men.

“We deserve this and much more. We sent the wrong man to prison!! And to one of the worst prisons in the country. I cannot believe that all of us have rubbed shoulders and taken pictures with the two child molesters, O’Reilly and Gideon. This is despicable!”   
“We do not know that,” the Mayor said.   
“Are you serious? There is evidence here that they abused kids in the orphanage that they worked in much earlier in their lives. All the people who tried to uncover this horrifying truth were silenced. We are all going straight to hell. I am going to stay here and see this to the end. I will quit the office” he said, a resolve taking shape in his stomach.   
“Boy, you can’t say that…” the Governor began to say.   
“No, today I will say this, we have all lost our way. We have become so concerned with keeping our positions unscathed, that we have forgotten whose help we are taking. We are willing to conceal alleged paedophiles. When officer Novak here is trying to uncover the truth, you are asking him why did he investigate in the first place. I will tell you why he did that, cause that is his job. You know who else was trying to do his job? Benjamin Thorne, he wanted the world to know what wolves roamed among us in garbs of sheep. We, on the other hand, are only here to make sure that we get elected for the next term. We are willing to brush all of these heinous crimes under the carpet! Why is it - because Gideon knows all the right people? Because framing O'Reilly will cost us the Christian votes?” Sam vented.   
“Boy, you better shut your cake hole or else you can kiss that governor nomination goodbye…” the mayor moved closer to him, getting visibly annoyed with Sam.   
“Do you really think I care for it anymore? I do not want it...it's over, Mayor Kendall. Everything between us is over,” he said finally.   
“Oh, you are in so much trouble, boy. I will make sure…” the mayor was cut mid-sentence when Lucian Novak who had been the quiet spectator so far, intervened.

“I would suggest that you do not threaten the man, Mayor. I will not be able to hold myself from telling the press any of this” he said smiling and showing them on his phone that he was recording everything.   
Sam thanked officer Novak later and then drove off, feeling much lighter. He wanted to meet his mom and then hopefully speak to Leona at her place. As he reached the cafe, he saw that his mother was busy serving hot chocolate to Leona.   
Both Leona and his mom looked stunned at him when he spoke.    
“Oh Sam, I did not hear you come in. How are you, honey?” his mom said a little hesitantly. 

\----  
  
Leona was tired and hungry as she was driving back, probably on her way home. She had just dropped off Ash and Jess who were going to the office, since Gabe wanted them for some final paperwork that needed to be done for Castiel's case. He had invited her to join him and the rest of the crew for drinks at the Dive Bar located in the upscale neighbourhood of Roosevelt Avenue. She had politely declined the offer and drove off not knowing where. Despite her tiredness, she was happy and content that her research had made sure the innocent man was finally out rather than rotting in prison. She felt a renewed sense of confidence in herself as she thought how neatly the case had been wrapped up. She stopped at a red light when she heard her stomach growl and she looked up to see one of the street signs telling her that she was not far away from the central park. She smiled to herself and turned right, driving towards Mary’s cafe. She parked her car outside the park and walked briskly towards the cafe. She saw that the cafe was open and Mary was outside sitting doing calculations of the days’ collections. She went to her and said, “Hey, what does a girl have to do get some food here?”    
Mary looked up from her paper and smiled at her through her glasses that were so similar to the ones Sam used to wear before he got contacts.    
“Honey!! Girl, I am going to feed you so well tonight, Dean was here some time ago. He was in some hurry, just got some sandwiches and coffee and left. He did not have a lot of time but he told me all that happened, honey. You did some great work in getting that boy out of prison. I am so proud of you, I hope you told your mom about this, if not then too bad, cos I am going to tell her everything. Come now, let’s get some food into you” she said, getting up and taking Leona inside.    
Leona went to her favourite corner place, she could not believe that even after their divorce not only was Mary in touch with her mom, but they spoke regularly to each other. She had to speak to her mom and tell her about the big win. She looked out of the window and saw a bunch of starlings flying together, making 3D images in the sky. Mary came over with a glass of hot chocolate topped with a cream sprinkling of cinnamon.

“What is this for?” Leona asked, taking in the sweet warm smell of the hot chocolate.   
“Oh, you deserve this hon,” said Mary beaming at her.   
“Yes she deserves this and much more,” said a voice behind Mary. As Mary turned around to see, Leona saw Sam was standing behind her,  towering over his mother. Both Mary and she looked at him stunned, a slight tremble of fear ran over Leona’s back. Mary said something to him, but it sounded just like buzzing to Leona who was busy trying to make herself look smaller in front of Sam's watchful gaze. Mary left them to get Sam a menu.    
“Can I join you?” he asked her.   
“Umm, Sam…” she struggled to say anything.   
“That is fine, I will sit here,” he said sitting at the table across her. “Leona, that was some great work, congratulations. Is Gabriel joining you here?” he said, looking around.   
“Umm,...” Leona was hating herself for not being able to say anything. She sipped the warm hot chocolate and realised that there was a hint of whiskey to it. After two long sips, she decided to speak, “Thank you, Sam, he is celebrating elsewhere.”   
“Oh that is nice to know, I wanted to speak to you,” he said moving forward and placing his elbows on the table   
“Do we have to speak, Sam?” Leona snapped, surprising herself with that statement. Sam seemed stunned but recovered quickly.

“Yes Leona, we need to speak, there is lot that has been left unspoken between us.”   
“Your actions have spoken louder than words, Sam,” she said, looking down at her drink.   
“I know, and I need to apologise for what happened. But I don’t know where to even begin. Should I apologise for not listening to you when you told me that mayor Kendall was the wrong guy,  or should I apologise for making you feel worthless? Should i apologise that I made you feel like you were not a real person, but a fashion accessory that I carried around till you were comfortable - and then dumped you?” He stopped midway as he felt as though he was choking. Leona was stunned and then felt terrible for making Sam feel that way. She wanted to go over and tell him everything was fine between them, but there was a part of her which was holding her back, telling her that this was not enough. Every relationship has its moments of silence, some of them are companionable, some are uncomfortable while both wait for the other shoe to drop. This was the latter silence.

Sam decided to speak up again.

“Leona, I know what I should be sorry for. The fact that I betrayed you - and I don’t mean that I betrayed you with another woman. There was something so much deeper when I betrayed your trust in me...when you tried to bring yourself  out of hell, I pulled you down with me. I scarred you...that is what I want to apologise for. I want to apologise for breaking your spirit…” he said, a single tear rolling down his cheek.   
Leona hated herself so much, specifically that part of her that was stopping her to reaching out and touching his face, holding his face and kissing away all those sad thoughts. Suddenly Sam did not seem like that demon who had cornered her in his office, who seemed to exude his power and believed that he could take anything he wanted. He looked like that cute guy who had jumped in through her window and asked her to marry him. But how could she trust him? What if he hurt her again? She would never be able to overcome it this time around. She was barely standing up and facing the world with a half a bottle of pills and gallon of coffee. She was broken in so many places and there were fresh wounds on her skin that told a story of a different Sam.    
But this was not that Sam who was looking at her right now, he was hurt and lost. This conundrum in her mind was too much for Leona. She got up and began to walk out of the cafe when Mary brushed passed her towards Sam. As Leona walked out of the door towards the canopy by the lake, she saw Mary speaking to her son. Leona was gasping for air and she ran to the canopy. She removed the scarf that hid the teeth marks that Sam had given her last night, she touched them and began to breathe heavily.    
She supported herself with one of the poles, “Leona….” she heard that familiar voice behind her.   
“I am going to follow you,” Sam said climbing onto the canopy but he stood farther away from her.    
“Why are you doing this, Sam? We decided to move on” she said looking out, tears streaming now.   
“I know but I can’t….I can’t move on without you. I am where I wanted to be but it feels so ...empty...I cannot pretend that everything is fine. I cannot pretend that everything in my life reminds me of you, I cannot pretend that you are the voice in my head that tells me to do the right thing...I-” 

Sam was cut short mid sentence when Leona placed a kiss on his lips. Sam eagerly opened his mouth to let her in. She held his face in her small delicate hands. She was standing on her tiptoes to kiss him. She felt herself losing touch with the ground as Sam picked her up. It thundered above their heads, and Leona felt something buzzing near her chest. She pulled away from Sam who looked at her, still lost in the daze; she pointed to his chest. He pulled out his phone and answered, “Detective Novak, you better have a great reason for calling me now.”   
  
"Redemption is a thing that is a very rare thing, very few times do we get the chance to undo the things we did," Luther Gideon said. "All I tried to do was seek redemption for the sins I did but then I guess that was not be."   
"Just cut the bullshit, Gideon, We all know what you did! Trust me, hanging out in Limos and living life in jet-setting across the world is no redemption. Not to mention all the gullible people you have duped so far. So why don't you come down to the station for a little chat?" Lucian said.   
"Never! it's over for me” he said and with this, he jumped to his death.   
"No!!" Anna screamed and ran to the window,about to jump behind Gideon, when Lucian caught her.   
"What the hell are you doing?" he scolded her.   
"Nooo, Lucian, he...oh God, no" and with this, she completely lost herself and passed out.   
Lucian screamed for an ambulance as the other officer who seemed too lost in haze suddenly burst into action. Lucian was desperately trying to revive Anna when he heard the ambulance pull into the driveway. Lucian carried her in his arms down the stairs of Gideon's mansion and saw them trying to revive her as well. They picked her up on the gurney as they placed an oxygen mask over her face. He got into the ambulance to get her to the hospital.   
His phone began to ring and he pulled it out to see it was Chief Sergeant Singer. He turned into a corner, away from her, to answer it.

\-----

"Lucian Novak."   
"Det. Novak, where the hell are you supposed to be right now?" Bobby roared over the phone.   
"Sir I'm taking my cousin to the hospital, she's..." he was explaining when he saw in the reflection on the glass of the window of the ambulance that Anna was up and was about to stab him with a stray syringe. He turned around and next thing he knew she had taken his gun.    
"Don't move!" she screamed. He held up his hands and she fired a shot. The ambulance had stopped as the medics opened the door, then she pointed the gun towards them and asked them to get in. She took the keys to the ambulance and Lucian's phone as she locked the three men inside. Lucian couldn't believe what had just happened; he was lost in his daze when one of the guys asked him what they should do, he turned to them. 

"Does one of you have a phone?" he asked as though on autopilot.   
"Yes I do," said one of them, showing his phone.    
"Great, call the cops and let them know what happened. I'm going after that girl," he said, squeezing himself to the front of the car and climbed out of a window. He was praying to some God up there, after many years that he was hoping Anna to not run in the direction he was suspecting she would go. As he was running, he saw a teenager walking down the street, busy typing into his phone. He stopped next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, flashed the badge and asked for his phone. He dialled Sam’s number which he knew from memory, as the man yelled at him over the noise of thunder he answered.

“Mr Winchester, do you know where your brother is?”   
“At home, I think,” he said and then he heard a lady say “Castiel was with him.”   
“Oh God no, Sam listen to me, call Dean now. I am reaching there” he said and hung up. He then called the control room.

“this is detective Novak, please track my cell number. A suspect has run away with it. Tell me the location” he barked into the phone, now trying to listen to the voice of heavy rain. As he heard the location, he knew exactly where she was going, closed his eyes and began to run.   
  
An eerie feeling of deja vu crept up Castiel's spine as he heard something fall in one of the rooms in the back of Dean’s flat. Dean was moving forward to see who it was.    
"Dean, wait," Castiel said, placing a shaking hand on his shoulder.   
"What?" Dean whispered, turning around to face him.   
And before Castiel could reply, Dean fell to the floor. Behind him, he saw Anna holding a baseball bat.    
"Oh Castiel, you weren't supposed to be up for that," she said casually.   
"You! YOU!! You poisoned me and killed all those men" he said disbelievingly.    
"Yes I did, what are you going to do about it...go to Lucian and tell me?" 

She spoke in an eerily childish tone.   
"But why? What did I ever do to you?” Castiel said, voice heavy with emotion.   
"Oh no, you did not do anything, I did it for Gideon!you see, Luther was going to be in trouble after that interview would have come out. The world did not see Luther as I saw him, they would only see his sin and not his redemption. They would not see all the torture he put himself through, I had to help him, Cassie. When he asked me one night, would I do it for him, I said yes. You know, after all this was over I would be with him forever, but Lucian...he killed him, Cassie. And you, you came back with Gabe and continued your sinful existence here. How could you, Cassie, rather than telling me the truth about Brady you went with him? You deserve this, you are the kind of person who never learns from his mistakes.  And I am going to kill you too, make Lucian suffer just like I am doing right now" she said with a mad twinkle in her eye.    
"Oh darling, how much do you talk," Cain came up from behind her. "Shut up and get back to work, finish our pretty warden and Castiel, let's finish what we started. This needs to look like a murder/ suicide. Castiel could not walk away from who he really was, he killed the warden and then killed himself" he said, sliding gloves on his hands and taking the gun from Anna’s back pocket.   
"But Gideon is dead, why do you want to get rid of us?" he pleaded.   
"Cos the Bishop's name can still be saved and Gideon's followers need to know that he did not die in vain," he said indifferently and observed the gun in his hand.   
“How….how did you even get out?” he said, looking at Cain.    
“Oh come on, Castiel, how many questions will you ask? All you need to know is that that bitch of a doctor is out cold in the trunk of her car” he said, throwing around things, trying to recreate a murder scene.   
Castiel’s world came crashing down underneath him as he heard everything clearly and his worst fears were about to come true, as Anna inched closer to Dean, bat in her hands. He felt a steely resolve take shape in the underbelly, so as Anna was about to hit him, he pulled Dean away and the bat hit the floor. She went for another hit, at Castiel this time, but Castiel pushed her out of the way. He got up and picked one of the trophies kept near the door and threw it directly at her. It hit her on her nose and she let go of the bat, held her face and groaned in pain.   
Cain picked up the bat now and ran towards him when Castiel ducked once again and he ran towards the kitchen. He was followed by Cain when Castiel picked up the knife and stabbed Cain who was charging towards him. The man's body fell limply on him growing heavier by the passing second, Castiel turned the knife inside of him and Cain let out a final cry of pain.   
He pushed him off. the body felt limply on the floor, he moved out to where Dean was and stood there over him. "Castiel, you and your friend are over today, no matter what happens" Anna hissed with the gun in her hands. She moved her gun towards Dean's unconscious form, when Castiel saw the door open… and then a loud bang, with a figure crashing over him as though to cover both him and Dean. Then there was another deafening bang, and he saw Anna fall back against the wall.   
"Cassie, are you alright? I am so so sorry, Cassie," Lucian said as he was checking Castiel for wounds, tears streaming down his face.    
The police entered behind him and then Leona walked through the door.

“Oh my God, Sam, are you okay? Dean?” she said. Castiel saw paramedics come in and pick up Sam, Dean and Anna’s wounded forms out of the room. Everything slowed down for him and he was walking in a dream-like state when Leona came face to face with him and slapped him hard across the face. Castiel’s trance, a reaction to shock, was shattered, and he broke down into Leona’s arms.   
  
**2 Years Later**   
  
Dean looked at all the pretty rings that Sam was showing him. “I don’t know Sam, all of them look the same to me,” he said, feeling nervous.   
“Dean, come on man, trust me, he is going to say yes to you,” Sam said, patting his shoulder.    
“Did you guys pick out a ring yet?” Leona said, entering the store. Sam had that stupid grin on his face as he saw her again. Things were getting back on their feet with these two, Leona and Sam were living together again. She pulled Dean into a corner, “Dean, guess what? You are going to be an uncle” she said, showing him the stick. Dean was about to yell out when she placed a finger on her lips, “Mom and Mary are waiting for us at the café. Plus guess what, I sent Castiel there to give them the good news. There is no way they would hate him now. Though...” she said, wondering.   
“Though what?” Dean asked.   
“Both his brothers are going with him too,” she said nervously. Dean slapped his forehead tiredly. Though he was not exactly a fan of the two, Dean enjoyed the company of Gabriel while Lucian creeped him out. Weirdly though, Lucian was becoming a fast friend to Sam; Dean did not know how he felt about this. Sam came forward with a ring that had a blue-green stone in it. 

“Check this one out, it has the colour of both of you: blue and green!”   
“Oh, I love it,” Leona said, “and it is so romantic too.”   
Sam held her from behind and said, “I could get one for you too. They do pay me well at the Human Rights Law Network.”   
Dean took out his phone and snapped a picture. Castiel had taught him how to take good pictures and capture the right moments. He sent the picture to Castiel who replied back, saying “I have taught you well. Please come soon, your mothers are feeding Gabriel sugar and I do not want the world to see his sugar high side!” Dean smiled at this. All three of them stepped out of the jewelry store and stopped in front of the huge poster of Castiel’s photo exhibition  **‘Behind the Prison Walls’.** All three of them looked at it and each thought how far had Castiel come back from all of it and even for them life was moving on hopefully in right direction.   
  
  



End file.
